


UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



c. 



$73 



THE GEEAT COMMISSION 



OF 



JESUS CHRIST 



TO 



HIS TWELYE APOSTLES 



BRIEFLY DEFINED AND ILLUSTRATED. 



BY 



R. MILLIGAN, 



PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF THE BIBLE IN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY ; 

AUTHOR OF "REASON AND REVELATION," "SCHEME OF 

REDEMPTION, 11 ETC. 



"He must reign till lie has put all enemies under his feet." 

1 Cor. xy. 25. 




LEXINGTON, Ky.: 

J. B. MORTON & COMPANY. 

1871. 






Enteked, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 

J. B. MOKTON & CO., 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



mTEODTJOTIOH". 



The last Commission of Jesus Christ to His 
twelve Apostles * is the fundamental law of the 
Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. In harmony 
with its principles and sublime enunciations, 
the Apostles went everywhere preaching the 
Word, giving laws and ordinances to the peo- 
ple, and administering the affairs of the 
Church. 

It seems strange, therefore, that more has 
not been written on this organic law of the 



* This Commission was delivered directly to but 
eleven of the Apostles; but it was afterward through 
them given also to Matthias (Acts i. 26). 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

Kingdom; and that greater efforts have not 
been made to make the people understand its 
bearings, not only on the ministry of the 
Apostles, but also on that of the Church 
through, all coming time. Surely, a right 
understanding of it would go far to remove 
popular prejudice, and to correct many of the 
popular errors that are prevalent in nearly all 
parts of Christendom. So, at least, it seems 
to me. And this is, therefore, my apology 
for now giving to the Public the following 
brief treatise on one of the most sublime and 
comprehensive portions of the Living Oracles. 
If this little work serves in any measure to 
reestablish in the popular consciousness the 
paramount authority of Christ and of His 
Apostles, I will have gained my object in 
writing it. 

I need scarcely say to the thoughtful reader 
that, in the following discussions, I aim at 
brevity. My purpose is not to exhaust this 
wonderful document, but simply to help and 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

induce the people to study it for themselves. 
In this rapid and eventful age but few ex- 
haustive works are really necessary or desira- 
ble. "We of course need a few such in every 
department of literature and science, chiefly 
for the use of the learned ; but we need many 
suggestive works for the benefit of the masses. 
It is time that the popular mind should be 
aroused from the slavish lethargy of both Pa- 
pal and Sectarian bigotry and prejudice, and 
that the people should be encouraged to think 
for themselves on all the great questions of 
life, death, and immortality. For this pur- 
pose we still need many works, written in a 
plain style, and adapted, in all respects, to 
the learning, wants, and circumstances of the 
masses. 

Hoping, then, that, with the blessing of 
God, this little volume may have some influ- 
ence in restoring the authority of God's "Word, 
and in promoting the purity, peace, and pros- 
perity of Zion, I now affectionately commend 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

and dedicate it to all wlio love the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and who reverently bow to His 
authority as the King of kings and Lord of 
lords. 

E. Milligan. 

Kentucky University, 
May 12, 1871. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGg 

Preface, . . . . . . .3 



PART I. 

Christ's Authority, and His promised Presence with 
His Apostles, and also with His Church, even 
to the End of the Christian Age, . . 9 

PART II. 

The Commission Proper, , . , . .28 

CHAPTER I. 
" Make Disciples of all the Nations," , ,29 

CHAPTER II. 

"Baptizing them into the Name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," , .61 

Sec. I. — The Proper Action of Baptism ; or, what 
Christ intended to express by the Word 
Baptize. . . . , .61 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Sec. II.— Who are to be baptized ? . . .100 

III. — Meaning of the Phrase, " into the Name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Spirit," . . . .135 

CHAPTER III. 
u Teaching them to observe all Things whatsoever I 
have commanded you." — rules relating to the 
Proper Use, Application, and Authority of the 
Holy Scriptures. — Conclusion, . . .154 



PART I 



PREFATORY AND INTRO D UCT R Y. 

" And Jesus came and spake unto them, 
saying, All power is given unto me in heaven 
and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all 
nations, "baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : 
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
I have commanded you : and, lo, I am with 
you alway, even unto the end of the world" — 
(Matt, xxviii. 18-20. Common English Ver- 
sion.) 

Or more literally thus : " And Jesus came 
near and spoke to them saying : All authority 
is given to me in heaven and on the earth. Go 
ye therefore and make disciples of all the na- 
tions, baptizing them into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit : 



10 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

teaching them to observe all things whatever 1 
have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you 
all the days, even to the end of the age" 

These are the words of Jesus to His eleven 
Apostles a short time before His ascension to 
the throne of the universe. He had, ere this, 
by the grace of God, tasted death for every 
man ; He had been buried ; He had risen from 
the dead the third day, according to the Script- 
ures ; He had on sundry occasions appeared to 
some or to all of His Apostles, and given them 
many infallible proofs of his resurrection and 
personal identity ; and now, on a mountain in 
Galilee, and in the presence of about five 
hundred of His disciples (1 Cor. xv. 6), He 
appeared to them again, in order to ordain 
and appoint them as His ambassadors to the 
nations ; or, as Mark says, to send them out 
to " preach the Gospel to every creature." 

How very appropriate, then, is the preface 
that is here given to this Commission ! u All 
authority" * says Christ, " is given to me in 

* The word exousia means properly authority. Christ, 
as the eternal Logos, had always possessed infinite power 



AUTHORITY OF CHRIST. H 

heaven and on the earth." These men were 
now about to engage in a most difficult work ; 
in a work that was fraught with consequences 
of the very highest importance to their entire 
race. They were about to go forth as the 
Apostles of a religion on which were suspended 
the destinies of mankind ; a religion that was 
opposed to all the other religions of the world, 
to much of the literature, philosophy, politics, 
manners, and customs of the world; and which 
would, therefore, of necessity arouse against 
them the violent opposition of all the kingdoms, 
principalities, powers, and authorities of the 
whole earth. (See Matt. x. 21, 22, 31-36, etc.) 
But to meet and overcome such opposition, 
they had no power in and of themselves. They 
were all men of the lower ranks and walks of 
life : men of but ordinary talents ; of but little 
learning, wealth, or means of any kind. And 
hence to go forth on such a mission, with so 



{dunamii) ; though the supreme authority had hitherto 
"been exercised by the Father. But even this is now 
given to the Son for a limited time, and for a specific 
purpose. 



12 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

great a disparity of power and influence, would 
have been madness and folly in the extreme. 

Our Saviour knew this perfectly; and He 
had therefore provided for them all the help 
that was necessary. The same infinite wisdom 
that had in the beginning weighed the moun- 
tains in scales, and the hills in a balance, bad 
now fully solved the great problem of man's 
redemption ; and had also now fully provided 
all that was really necessary, in order to make 
the mission of the Cross a grand, and glorious, 
and final success. This is all implied and guar- 
anteed in the preface and sequel of this ex- 
traordinary Commission : u All authority is 
given to me in hemen and on the earth. Go 
ye therefore, and make disciples of all the 
nations, baptizing them into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit : 
teaching them to observe all things whatever I 
have commanded you : and, lo, i am with you 

ALL THE DAYS, EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE." 

This was enough. The Apostles needed 
nothing more; they desired nothing more. 
They now went to Jerusalem ; waited there a 
few days for the promised aid of the Holy Spir- 



AUTHORITY OF CHRIST. 13 

it ; and as soon as it was received, and they were 
endowed with the necessary power from on 
high, they commenced their work of faith and 
labors of love, in the midst of the greatest ene- 
mies of the Cross. But whether they were in 
Jerusalem, Samaria, Antioch, or the uttermost 
parts of the earth, they did and said all m the 
name of the Lord Jesus. They felt that their 
agency was comparatively but as nothing. 
They knew that the treasure had been put into 
earthen vessels, in order that the excellency of 
the power might appear to be of God (2 Cor. 
iv. T). And hence they never arrogated any 
honor to themselves ; but in all their words, 
and in all their deeds, the name of the Lord 
Jesus was magnified. They said to kings and 
princes, just as they said to the lowest and 
humblest peasants of their realms, " Kiss the 
Son, lest he be angry with you, and ye perish 
from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a 
little." 

This will be made plain and obvious to all, 
by merely citing a few brief extracts from their 
recorded discourses. On the ever-memorable 
day of Pentecost, when Peter stood up with 



14 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

the eleven before the assembled thousands, from 
nearly all parts of the civilized world, he said 
to them in the conclusion of his discourse : 
" This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we 
all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right 
hand of God exalted, and having received of 
the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, HE 
hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. 
For David is not ascended into the heavens : 
but he saith himself, Jehovah said to my Lord, 
Sit on my right hand till I make thy foes thy 
footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel 
know assuredly that God hath made that same 
Jesus whom ye crucified both LORD and 
CHRIST." 

!Now, when they heard this, they were 
pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the 
rest of the Apostles, " Men and brethren, what 
shall we do ? " 

Then Peter said unto them, " Repent, and be 
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall 
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." 

In like manner he also testified to the vast 
multitude that had run together to witness the 



AUTHORITY OF CHRIST. 15 

marvellous cure of the healed cripple, recorded 
in the third chapter of Acts. When Peter 
saw the wondering crowd he said to them, " Ye 
men of Israel, why marvel ye at this ? or why 
look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our 
own power or holiness we had made this man 
to walk ? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, 
and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glo- 
rified his Son Jesus ; whom ye delivered up, and 
denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he 
was determined to let him go. But ye denied 
the Holy One and the Just, and desired a mur- 
derer to be granted unto you. And killed the 
Prince of life, whom God hath raised from 
the dead ; whereof we are witnesses. And his 
name through faith in his name hath made 
this man strong ', whom ye see and know : yea, 
the faith which is ~by him hath given him 
this perfect soundness in the presence of you 
all. And now, brethren, I know that through 
ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. 
But those things, which God before had showed 
by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ 
should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye 
therefore, and turn, in order that your sins 



16 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

may be blotted out, and that times of refresh- 
ing may come from the presence of the Lord. 
And He will send Jesus Christ, who before was 
preached to you; whom the heaven must re- 
ceive, until the times of restitution of all things, 
which God hath spoken by the mouth of all 
his holy prophets, since the world began. For 
Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet 
shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of 
your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye 
hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto 
you. And it shall come to pass ', that every soul 
who will not hear that prophet, shall le de- 
stroyed from among the people. Tea, and all 
the prophets from Samuel, and those that fol- 
low after, as many as have spoken have likewise 
foretold of these days." — (Acts iii. 12-24.) 

On the next day, when Peter and John 
were required to make their defence before the 
rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas, the 
high-priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alex- 
ander, and as many as were of the kindred 
of the high-priest — Peter, filled with the Holy 
Spirit, said to them all : " Ye rulers of the peo- 
ple, and elders of Israel, if we this day be ex- 



AUTHORITY OF CHRIST. Jf 

amined of the good deed done to the impotent 
man, by what means he is made whole ; be it 
known unto you all, and to all the people of 
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of 
Nazareth, whom ye crucified ', whom God raised 
from the dead, even by him doth this man 
stand before you whole. This is the stone which 
was set at naught of you builders, which has be- 
come the head of the corner. Neither is there 
salvation in any other : for there is none other 
name under heaven given among men, whereby 
we must be savedP— (Acts iv. 8-12.) 

Many other examples and illustrations might 
be given; but these are sufficient. They in- 
dicate very clearly that Jesus Christ, crucified, 
buried, risen, and glorified, was the burden of 
all the Apostles' preaching. He is everywhere 
represented by them as the living, reigning, 
and Almighty Sovereign of heaven and earth ; 
but, at the same time, as being ever ready to 
receive and save to the uttermost all who will 
come unto God by Him. 

The result was grand and glorious beyond 
all description. The word of the Lord increased 
and prevailed mightily. Everywhere, from 



18 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

J erusalem to Samaria, from Samaria to Rome, 
and from Rome to the ends of the earth, the 
Gospel was demonstrated to be the power of 
God for salvation to every believer. 

And just so it would have ever been, had 
the professed heralds of the Cross but continued 
to preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified and 
glorified as the power of God and the wisdom 
of God. Never since the fall of man did Satan 
obtain so great a triumph over the cause of 
truth and righteousness, as when he persuaded 
the Church to substitute tradition for revela- 
tion, philosophy for inspiration, and the au- 
thority of priests, popes, and councils, for the 
authority of Christ and of His Apostles. This 
is all in direct violation of the constitution and 
laws of the kingdom of heaven. The decree 
of God is, that Christ shall reign absolutely 
over the Church in His own proper person, and 
through the agency of His Apostles, as long as 
time endures. 

The following passages will, I hope, make 
this plain and obvious to all. In Isaiah ix. 6, 7, 
for instance, the prophet, under the influence 
of plenary inspiration, thus speaks of the char- 



AUTHORITY OF CHRIST. 19 

acter, extent, and duration of the Messiah's 
reign. " Unto us," says he, u a child is born ; 
unto us a son is given ; and his name shall be 
called WONDERFUL, COUNSELLOR, THE 
MIGHTY GOD, THE FATHER OF THE 
EVERLASTING AGE, THE PRINCE OF 
PEACE. Of the increase of his government 
and peace there shall be no end. Upon the 
throne of David (he shall sit), and over his 
kingdom (he shall rule), to order it and to es 
tdblish it, with judgment and with justice, from 
henceforth even forever" * that is, as long as 

* The Hebrew word 'olam and the Greek aion, va- 
riously rendered forever, everlasting, eternal, etc., are 
both relative terms ; and as such they may be applied to 
any age or to any period. Thus, for example, in Exodus 
xxi. 6, the word : olam is applied to a period of service ; 
and it simply means that the servant should serve his 
master as long as he lived. In Exodus xl. 15, it is used 
to describe the duration of the Levitical priesthood ; and 
it means here that this priesthood would last throughout 
the entire Jewish age ; or as long as the old covenant 
would be of binding obligation. In Genesis xlix. 26, it 
is applied to the hills ; and in this case it comprehends 
all future time. This is also evidently its meaning in 
Isaiah ix. 7; Daniel ii. 44, etc. 



20 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

time shall last. His kingdom will, in tliis 
sense, be an everlasting kingdom, and He will 
have no successors in office. — (Daniel ii. 44.) 

Still more definite, if possible, is the testi- 
mony of the Apostle Paul. In his first letter 
to the Corinthians, for example, while speaking 
of the triumphs of Christ over sin and death, 
he says : " Then cometh the end when he shall 
have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the 



From such premises, some have hastily inferred that 
these words ''olam, axon, everlasting, etc., always refer to a 
limited period ; and that they never mean duration with- 
out end. But he it carefully observed, that these terms, 
though relative, are always perfectly exhaustive of the 
period or cycle to which they are applied. If they refer 
simply to the period of a man's life, they exhaust it ; if 
to future time, they exhaust it ; and if to eternity, they 
in like manner also exhaust it. And hence, when Christ 
says, in Matt. xxv. 46, " These shall go away into ever- 
lasting (aionion) punishment, but the righteous into 
everlasting (aioniori) life," He means, beyond all doubt, 
life and punishment without end. Eternity has no such 
periods as time has ; at least none such are revealed to 
us. And hence the word aionion in Matt. xxv. 46, and 
all other similar cases, has no limitations. It is exhaust- 
ive of eternity. 



AUTHORITY OF CHRIST. 21 

Father / when he shall have put down all rule 
and all authority and power. For he must 
reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 
The last enemy, death, shall he destroyed. For 
he (God) hath put all enemies under his 
(Christ's) feet. But when he saith, All things 
are put under him, it is manifest that he is ex- 
cepted who did put all things under him. And 
when all things shall be subdued unto him, 
then shall the Son also himself be subject to 
him that put all things under him, that God 
may be all in all."— (1 Cor. xv. 24-28.) 

These passages, then, settle very clearly and 
definitely the question as to the extent and du- 
ration of Christ's authority. And the follow- 
ing testimony of Matthew is equally conclusive 
touching the authority and administration of 
His Apostles. "When Peter asked Christ what 
should be the special honors, rights, and privi- 
leges of himself and his eleven apostolic col- 
leagues, He said to them, " Yerily I say to you 
that ye who have followed me (during the pe- 
riod of my earthly ministry), in the regen- 
eration when the Son of man shall sit on the 
throne of his glory, ye also shall sit on twelve 



22 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel" — 
(Matt. xix. 28.) 

From this passage we may learn — 

1. That the period of the regeneration here 
spoJcen of is simply the period of Christ's me- 
diatorial reign, extending from the day of Pen- 
tecost, a. d. 34,* to the end of the day of judg- 
ment, when Christ will deliver up the king- 
dom to Cod the Father. It is very appropri- 
ately and significantly called tlie regeneration, 
because that during this period all the saints 
will be regenerated, both spiritually and physi- 
cally, and the very earth itself will be reno- 
vated by fire, and prepared for the descent of 
the New Jerusalem. — (Rev. xxi. 1-27. See 
also Matt. y. 5 ; Rom. iv. 13 ; Gal. iii. 18 ; 2 
Peter iii. 13, etc.) 

2. That the twelve tribes of Israel are here 
put symbolically for the Church of Christ. 

* I here use A. D. {Anno Domini) not in its technical 
but in its proper sense, to denote the year of Christ's 
coronation, reckoned from the real epoch of His birth. 
This, the reader is aware, occurred about four years pre- 
vious to the epoch from which Dionysius the Small reck- 
oned in his svstem of chronology. 



AUTHORITY OF CHRIST. 23 

This is in perfect harmony with the figurative 
style and typical nomenclature of the Bible. 
At an early period of the world's history, Abra- 
ham was, by the appointment of God, made the 
father of two families: the one according to 
the flesh, and the other according to the spirit. 
The former was composed of all the natural de- 
scendants of Abraham ; the latter, of all who 
are of the faith of Abraham. Out of the for- 
mer were elected the twelve tribes of Israel ac- 
cording to the flesh. These were placed under 
the Old, or Sinaitic Covenant, and constituted 
the Church of the Mosaic economy (Acts vii. 
38). Of the latter is composed the Church of 
Christ under the laws and ordinances of the 
JSTew Covenant. These two Churches stood to 
each other in the relation of type and antitype, 
and hence it is that the names, titles, and attri- 
butes of the former are often by analogy given 
to the latter. Thus it is, for instance, that 
Christians are called Jews (Eom. ii. 28, 29); the 
seed of Abraham (Eom. iv. 11, 13, 16) ; Israel- 
ites (Eom. ix. 6, and Gal. vi. 16); the circum- 
cision (Phil. iii. 3). And thus it is also that the 
Church of Christ is called " the twelve tribes of 



24 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

the children of Israel" in the passage under 
consideration. 

If any further evidence of this is needed, it 
may be found in the scope and history of the 
'New Economy, under which "there is neither 
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumci- 
sion, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but 
Christ is all and in all " (Col. iii. 11). Noth- 
ing could, therefore, be further from Christ's 
purpose and intention than to intimate, either 
here or elsewhere, that, during His mediatorial 
reign, His Apostles would sustain any joecu- 
liar relation to the Jews, or Israelites, according 
to the flesh. His order to them was simply 
this : " Go and make disciples of all the na- 
tions / baptize the converts, and then teach 
them to walk blamelessly in all the laws and 
ordinances of the ]STew Covenant." And, for 
their encouragement in all their works of faith 
and labors of love, He simply added that He 
himself would be with them even to the end of 
the world. 

3. That the authority of the Apostles over 
the Church of Christ is still plenary and abso- 
lute. This is very clearly and forcibly indi- 



AUTHORITY OF CHRIST. 25 

cated by their sitting on twelve * thrones and 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel during the 
entire period of the regeneration. It is true 
that in one sense the Apostles are now dead, as 
are also all their contemporaries. But in an- 
other sense they still live, and will continue to 
live, until at least the kingdom shall be deliv- 
ered up to the Father. By the laws and ordi- 
nances which they have given to the Church, 
they still judge her, and will also finally judge 
her at the last day (John xii. 48). And hence 
it follows that whatever is now done according 
to the teaching of the Apostles, is also now 
done by the authority of Christ. Whatever the 
Church now so binds on earth, is bound also in 
heaven; and whatever the Church looses ae- 

* The number of the Apostles, including Matthias 
and Paul, was thirteen; and so also there were really 
thirteen tribes of the children of Israel. But, neverthe- 
less, the number twelve was commonly used in a sort of 
technical or appropriated sense, to denote all the tribes 
of Israel. And just so the same number seems to be 
here used to designate all the Apostles of Christ. Or it 
may be that, as Paul was born out of due time, he is not 
included in this remark. 
3 



26 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

cording to this rule, is loosed also in heaven 
(Matt, xviii. 18). 

From all these premises, then, it is evident 
that the proper order of the Church of Christ 
is really the same now that it was in the days 
of the Apostles. No change in any of her laws, 
ordinances, rights, privileges, and obligations, 
has ever been made by divine authority. Christ, 
as her ever-living head, is still invested with 
supreme authority, and is just as ready to co- 
operate with His people now as He was eighteen 
hundred years ago. He still says, not only to 
the Apostles, and to the Church collectively, 
but also to every disciple who is walking ac- 
cording to the apostolic rule, "Z0, lam with you 
always" — (See John xiv. 23, and Eev. iii. 20.) 

The authority of the Apostles is also the 
same, and their work is nearly the same. If 
they were here to-day in their own proper per- 
sons, they would but repeat what they did and 
said eighteen hundred years ago. They would 
not add one iota to what is recorded by their 
authority in the Holy Scriptures; nor would 
they in any wise change, modify, or abrogate, 
a single precept which they have left on record. 



AUTHORITY OF CHRIST. 27 

As law-givers, their work is finished, and tliey 
now live in their writings merely to judge the 
people, and to execute the will of God through 
the agency and instrumentality of the Church. 
To her is now committed, under their instruc- 
tions, the work of this Commission, She has 
now but to go, as did the Apostles, and make 
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all 
things which the Apostles have commanded; 
and then Christ will, according to His promise, be 
with her all the days, even to the end of the age. 
But, in order that she may do this success- 
fully, she must herself first fully understand the 
terms of this Commission as they were under- 
stood by the Apostles, and as they have been 
defined by their labors. But to understand all 
this aright will, of course, require a careful 
analysis of the Commission itself, and a critical 
discussion of all its elements in the light of all 
the acts and teachings of the Apostles. To thi3 
investigation I therefore respectfully invite the 
attention of the reader in the course of the fol- 
lowing chapters. 



PART II 



TEE COMMISSION P BO PER. 

The several elements of this commission are 
all summarily comprehended in the three fol- 
lowing specifications : 

L The Apostles were commanded to make 
disciples of all the nations. 

II. To baptize them into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

III. To teach them all things that Christ 
had Himself commanded. 

Let us, then, briefly consider each of these in 
order. 



CHAPTEE I. 

" Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all 
the nations" 

There is but one word in this clause that 
requires any explanation . The word raatheteuo 
in the first clause, is very different from the 
word didasTco, to teach, in the third clause. 
The former is from mathetes, a disciple, or a 
learner ; and this, again, comes from the word 
manthano, to learn. Matheteuo, then, simply 
means to he a disciple ; or, when it is used 
transitively, as in this case, it means to make 
disciples, or learners. 

Several things, then, are clearly taught or 
implied in - this part of the Commission. For 
instance, it is implied : 

I. That Christ had died for all the na- 
tions, or rather, if you please, for all the indi- 
vidual persons of whom the nations are com- 
posed ; for the wildest and most barbarous of 



30 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

all the tribes of Asia, Africa, America, and 
Oceanica, as well as for tlie more polished and 
refined Jews, Greeks, and Romans. For other- 
wise he would never have instructed His Apos- 
tles to go and make disciples of them. He 
knew of course, perfectly well, that it was only 
through the rich merits of His own precious 
blood that any man could be saved. And, had 
He not therefore by the grace of God tasted 
death for every man, He would never have said 
to His Apostles, " Go and make disciples of all 
the nations." In that event, He might as well 
have said to them, go and make disciples of the 
fallen angels. But this would of course have 
been but folly and madness. Christ would not 
have so tantalized his servants. 

II. x We learn also from this that it is the 
will of Christ that all should he saved. If He 
died for all, and then commissioned His Apos- 
tles to go and make disciples of all who were 
capable of becoming disciples, surely this ought 
to satisfy every reasonable man that it is not 
the will of Christ that any should perish, but 
that all should be brought to the knowledge of 
the truth. If, therefore, any are still without 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 31 

tliis knowledge — without God and without 
hope in the world — we may rest assured that it 
is not owing to the will of Christ, bat in spite 
of it, that they are in this condition, * The gra- 
cious invitation of our blessed Redeemer to all 
the nations is still, " Ho, every one that thirst- 
eth, come ye to the waters ; and he that has no 
money — come ye, buy and eat : yea, come buy 
wine and milk without money and without 
price " (Isa. lv. 1). 

III. It is further evident, from these prem- 
ises, that the Apostles had an agency in mak- 
ing disciples. For, otherwise, Christ would 
certainly not have said to them, " Go and make 
disciples of all the nations." 



* This is a marvellous illustration of the respect that 
God has for the freedom of the human will. Much as 
He really desires the happiness of all men, He will never- 
theless compel no one to become a Christian. Nor will 
He even compel any man against his will to preach the 
Gospel to the nations. God loves a willing service : 
and His promise to His Son from the beginning was that 
His people should all be voluntary offerings in the day 
of His power ; that is, during His mediatorial reign, or 
the period of the regeneration (Psa. ex. 3). 



32 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

But how did they make disciples ? By what 
means and through what instrumentalities did 
they convert the learned and the unlearned, the 
rich and the poor, the bond and the free of all 
nations, into disciples of Christ ? 

Had the inspired testimony closed with the 
narratives of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, 
it might have been very difficult for us now to 
answer this question satisfactorily. Men of 
ardent imaginations might allege many ways 
and means of accomplishing this end. True, 
indeed, we might in this case reach a probable 
result by reasoning from analogy ; by showing 
how men are wont to make disciples to other 
schools of religion and philosophy. But this 
would, of course, be very unsatisfactory to all 
classes. And, therefore, Christ has taken care 
that a plain and faithful narrative of the evan- 
gelical labors of His Apostles should be recorded 
for our benefit and our instruction, so that, in 
prosecuting this work, we may follow in the 
footsteps of the Apostles, even as they also fol- 
lowed the teachings and promptings of the 
Holy Spirit. This narrative is given to us by 
Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, with suffi- 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 33 

cient fulness for all practical purposes. Let us 
now, therefore, open this inspired directory, 
and see what the holy Apostles and Prophets 
did in executing and fulfilling this part of their 
commission. 

We will begin with the beginning of their 
labors, as these are found recorded in the sec- 
ond chapter of Acts. These ambassadors of 
Jesus were instructed to remain in Jerusalem 
until they were endowed with power from on 
high. This they were required to do but for a 
few days. For, on the day of the following 
Pentecost, when they were all assembled with 
one accord in one place, " suddenly there came 
a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty 
wind ; and it filled all the house where they 
were sitting. And there appeared to them 
tongues as of fire, distributed among them ; 
and it sat on each of them. And they were all 
filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak 
with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them ut- 
terance " (Acts ii. 1-4). 

The necessary qualifications were therefore 
now all imparted; and these men were now 
fully prepared to begin the work of making dis- 



34 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

ciples. An audience only was wanting ; and 
this want was very soon supplied by the mir- 
acle which had been wrought. The news of 
this rapidly spread, as if on electric wires, all 
over Jerusalem. Yast multitudes of the citi- 
zens, and others who had come up to the yearly 
festival, crowded around the one hundred and 
twenty disciples, and were amazed as they 
heard these humble and unlearned men and 
women speaking, in at least sixteen or seven- 
teen different languages, the wonderful works 
of God. 

But no one was yet converted. The people 
were simply filled with wonder; and most of 
them, it seems, were unable to give any expla- 
nation of the miracle. But some of them, filled 
with malice, scoffingly said, " These men are 
full of sweet wine." 

The time for action had now come. Peter 
arose with the eleven, and, having calmly and 
briefly exposed the absurdity of the allegation, 
he next proceeded to show that what they then 
witnessed was all in harmony with what one 
of their own prophets had said should come, to 
pass : 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 35 

u And it shall be in the last days, saith God, 
That I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh ; 
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, 
And your young men shall see visions, 
And your old men shall dream dreams; 
And also on my servants and on my handmaids 
I will pour out of my Spirit in those days, 
And they shall prophesy ; 
And I will show wonders in heaven above, 
And signs in the earth beneath, 
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke. 
The sun shall be turned into darkness, 
And the moon into blood, 
Before the great and notable day of the Lord shall 

come. 
And it shall be that every one who shall call on the 

name of the Lord, 
Shall be saved " (Joel ii. 28-32). 

This was a most fortunate and appropriate 
introduction. It, in connection with, the mira- 
cle that was wrought, seems to have had a very 
great influence in opening the ears and the 
hearts of the people, so as to incline them to 
give heed to the things which were spoken by 
Peter. But still no one was yet . converted. 
Before this could be done, Jesus Himself must 
be held up to the people as " the chief among 



36 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

ten thousand, and as the one that is altogether 
lovely." And hence when Peter had gained 
the ears and the hearts of the people, he pro- 
ceeded next to lay before them the facts of the 
Gospel, and especially the evidence of Christ's 
resurrection. This he proved — 

1. From the sixteenth JPsalm, in which Da- 
vid, as the type and representative of Christ, 
says: 

" I saw the Lord always before me ; • 
Because he is on my right hand that I should not be 

moved. 
For this my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad ; 
Moreover, also, my flesh shall rest in hope : 
Because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades, 
Nor wilt thou suffer thy Holt One to see corruption. 
Thou didst make known to me the ways of life ; 
Thou wilt make me full of joy with thy presence." 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 37 

he had reference to the Messiah as his great an- 
titype. 

2. He proved it ~by his own testimony and 
that of the other Apostles, as the chosen wit- 
nesses of Jesus. This they gave in a manner 
and under circumstances which were well cal- 
culated to produce conviction in every heart. 
There was no appearance of fiction nor of un- 
certainty in their narrative. They simply an- 
nounced to the people what they had seen with 
their own eyes ; what they had heard with their 
own ears ; and what they were now ready and 
willing, if necessary, to seal with their own 
blood, for the glory of God and the salvation 
of the world. This testimony was full, clear, 
and convincing. It ought to have satisfied all 
who were then present, that God had raised 
from the dead that same Jesus whom their 
rulers had recently crucified. 

3. He proved his proposition also ly a 
reference to the miracle that had just teen 
wrought, and of which they themselves were the 
witnesses. There were the miraculous influ- 
ences and effects of the Holy Spirit evidently 
shed forth on the one hundred and twenty dis- 



38 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

ciples. Of tliis fact there could be no mistake, 
for the people all heard them speaking, in lan- 
guages which they had never learned, " the 
wonderful works of God." And what other 
explanation of this could be given, than that 
Jesus, having been exalted according to proph- 
ecy to the right hand of God, and having re- 
ceived from the Father the promise of the Holy 
Spirit, had now poured it out on His disciples ? 
Evidently this was the only reasonable expla- 
nation that could be given of the marvellous 
phenomena, of which the multitude were them- 
selves the eye and the ear witnesses. And 
hence Peter next added, in view of all the facts 
and arguments submitted : " Therefore, let all 
the house of Israel know assuredly, that God 
hath made that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, 
both LOED and CHKIST." 

The evidence was complete, and the conclu- 
sion was logically irresistible. Many were now 
fully convinced of sin, and of righteousness, 
and of judgment. And, under the influence of 
this conviction, they now cried out in the pres- 
ence of the Apostles : " Men and brethren, what 
shall we do f " Their hearts were now com- 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 39 

pletely overcome by the love of God, and a deep 
sense of their own sinfulness. And they were, 
therefore, now willing, and even anxious, to sit 
at the feet of Jesus, and learn from Him and 
His Apostles what they should do to be saved. 
The lesson was very soon told, and as easily 
learned. There was then no doubt in the minds 
of the Apostles that God was willing and ready 
to save all who would believe on and obey the 
Lord Jesus. And hence Peter simply said to the 
inquiring multitude : " Repent and le haptized, 
every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ* 
in order to the remission of sins, and ye shall 



* The phrase, "epi to onomati tinos, upo?i the name of 
any one" says Dr. Edward Kobinson, in his Greek Lexi- 
con of the New Testament, means " to do any thing 
upon or in the name of a person, his name being the 
foundation on which the act rests. Thus, didaslcein epi 
to onomati Jesou CJiristou (Acts iv. 18), means to teach 
upon the name of Jesus ; that is, resting upon His name, 
as the ultimate teacher and author. So daptistheto epi 
to onomati Jesou CJiristou (Acts ii. 38), means to be 
baptized upon the name of Christ, that is, the baptism 
being administered upon the profession of His name." 

To the same effect also is the testimony of Dr. George 



40 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the 
promise is to yon, and to yonr children, and to 
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord 
onr God shall call. And with many other 
words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save 
yourselves from this perverse generation." 

" Then they that gladly received his word 
were baptized : and the same day there were 
added unto them about three thousand souls." 

So then endeth the first lesson. What do 
we learn from it ? Evidently — 

1. That, in making disciples, the Apostles 
first preached to the people Jesus Christ and 
Him crucified, submitting to them at the same 
time the evidence of His resurrection, ascension, 
and glorification. 

2. That in this way faith was wrought in 
the hearts of their hearers, as Paul also testifies 

Benedict Winer, in his Grammar of the New Testament 
Diction, Section xlviii., Art. on the preposition epi.' 

It is evident, therefore, that both repentance and bap- 
tism, on the name or by the authority of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, were required of the Pentecostian converts, in 
order to (eis) the remission of their sins. On any other 
ground they would have both been utterly unavailing. 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 41 

in Komans x. 17, where lie says, " Faith cometli 
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." 

3. That to such as were moved by their faith 
to inquire what they should do to be saved, the 
Apostles simply replied : " Eepent and be bap- 
tized, every one of you, in the name of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, in order to the remission of 
sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Spirit." * 

A second lesson might be learned from Acts 
iii. 1-iv. 4 ; a third, from Acts viii. 5-13 ; a 
fourth, from Acts viii. 26-39 ; a fifth, from Acts 

* In all this there are of course some things implied 
which are not folly and formally expressed. For example : 

1. That these converts all loved God and prayed to 
Him. This is natural. Every man who really believes 
with all his heart that God is, and that He is the re- 
warder of them that diligently seek Him, will most as- 
suredly both love Him and pray to Him. 

2. That they also, like Timothy, made " the good 
confession " (1 Tim. vi. 12, 13). This, it would seem, 
was never omitted in the primitive Church, for Christ 
says : " On this rock (that is, on the truth confessed) I 
will build my Church " (Matt. xvi. 15-18). And Paul 
says : " "With the heart, man believeth unto righteous- 
ness ; and with the mouth confession is made unto sal- 



42 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

x. ; a sixth, from Acts xiii. 4r-12 ; a seventh, 
from Acts xiii. 13-52; and many others also 
from subsequent chapters of this same inspired 
and infallible directory. But from all these we 
gather substantially the same facts, viz., that, 
in making disciples, the Apostles always — 

1. Preached Jesus to the people, thereby pro- 
ducing in their hearts faith, hope, love, prayer- 
fulness, and a deep sense of their own sinful- 
ness and iinworthiness. 

2. That they everywhere submitted to the 
people as conditions of pardon — 

(1.) Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

(2.) Repentance ', or a thorough change of 
will and purpose. 

(3.) A public confession of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, such as Peter made near Caesarea Phil- 
ippi (Matt. xvi. 15-18). 

(4.) Baptism, by the authority of Christ, 
into the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Spirit. 

3. That they baptized without delay those 

vation." — (See also Matt. x. 32 ; Hebrews iii. 1, iv. 14, 
x. 23, etc.) 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 43 

who received the word with joy and glad- 
ness. 

4. And that they afterward continued to in- 
struct them diligently in all things that Christ 
had commanded. 

IY. This, then, is to be our directory in all 
our efforts to make disciples of all the nations. 
I say in all our efforts, for that this work is 
now committed to the Church under Christ, 
according to the laws and ordinances given by 
the Apostles, is evident from the following con- 
siderations : 

1. It is clearly implied in the terms of this 
Commission. Our blessed Saviour said to His 
Apostles : " Go ye therefore and make disciples 
of all the nations, baptizing them into the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit : teaching them to observe all things 
whatever I have commanded you: and lo, I 
am with you all the days, even to the end of 
the age." In this declaration of Christ, it is 
clearly implied that the obligation to make dis- 
ciples would in some way and in some sense 
rest on the Apostles throughout the entire 
Christian age ; and that, during this whole pe- 



44: THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

riod, Christ would be ever present with them, 
to aid and to bless them in this work. But in 
what sense is this true ? In what sense can it 
be true ? The Apostles are now all dead. For 
nearly eighteen hundred years they have all 
slept with their fathers, so that personally they 
have long since ceased from their labors. But 
officially they still live in their writings, and, 
as law-givers and judges, they still sit on thrones, 
directing, instructing, and edifying, every con- 
gregation of faithful disciples. They still work 
through the Church for the consummation and 
accomplishment of the work begun on Pente- 
cost. To her they have committed the word 
of reconciliation, for the enlightenment and sal- 
vation of the world (1 Tim. iii. 15 ; 2 Tim. ii. 
2 ; Eev. xxii. 17, etc). He that now hears the 
Church, so long as she acts according to the 
inspired word, hears the Apostles, and he that 
hears the Apostles hears Christ (Luke x. 16). 
And hence it is that on the Church, as the di- 
vinely-appointed agent of the Apostles, acting 
wdth their advice and under their authority, 
now rests the responsibility of making disciples 
of all the nations. 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 45 

2. This is still further evident from the la- 
bors of the Apostles and the history of the prim- 
itive Church. The apostolic age was emphati- 
cally the missionary age of the Church. Then 
every new convert to Christ was a new ele- 
ment of strength to the missionary cause. 
Under the direction of the Apostles, the disci- 
ples went everywhere preaching the word, and 
assisting in every way that they could, to ad- 
vance the kingdom of Christ on earth. This is 
so fully illustrated throughout the Acts of the 
Apostles, that a mere reference to this illus- 
trative book is sufficient to convince every in- 
telligent and thoughtful reader of the inspired 
"Word, of its truthfulness. It was not the Apos- 
tles only, but also their coadjutors, acting with 
their advice and under their instructions, that 
turned the world upside down by preaching the 
Gospel to every creature under heaven, within 
the short period of about thirty years after the 
coronation of the Messiah (Col. i. 23). "What 
further proof, then, is necessary, in order to con- 
vince all who plead for the restoration of the 
primitive faith and practice, that " the Church, 
as the pillar and support of the truth," is now 



46 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

solemnly bound to make disciples of all the na- 
tions? Surely any further evidence on this 
subject would be wholly superfluous. 

But, in all our efforts to convert the world, 
let us beware that we depart not from the ex- 
ample and instructions of the inspired Apostles. 
So long as they sit on twelve thrones judging 
the twelve tribes of Israel, so long will the laws 
which they have given to the Church be of bind- 
ing obligation on all the followers of Christ. 
If, then, we would labor successfully in our 
efforts to turn many to righteousness, we must, 
like the Apostles, demonstrate to the people — 

1. That Christ died for our sins according 
to the Scriptures. 

2. That He was buried. 

3. That He rose again the third day accord- 
ing to the Scriptures (1 Cor. xv. 1-4). 

4. That He has been exalted to be a Prince 
and a Saviour ; and that He has become the 
author of eternal salvation to all them that 
obey Him (Heb. v. 9). ■ 

And by this, I do not mean to say that the 
whole work of making disciples has now been 
committed to the Church. Certainly not. God 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 47 

lias reserved to Himself much, the greater part 
of the work, both in making disciples and in 
edifying the Church. So Paul clearly teaches 
in the third chapter of his first letter to the 
Corinthians. " Paul," he says, " may plant 
and Apollos may water: but it is God that 
giveth the increase." And, to show his com- 
parative estimate of the Divine and the human 
elements in this evangelical work, he adds : 
" So, then, neither is he that planteth, any 
thing ; neither he that watereth ; but God that 
giveth the increase." 

This testimony is clear and conclusive ; and 
it is, moreover, in beautiful harmony with the 
promise of Christ, that He would be with the 
Apostles and all their faithful converts and co- 
workers, even to the end of the world. (See 
also John xv. 5 ; 2 Cor. iii. 5 ; Phil. ii. 12, 
13 ; Hebrews ii. 4, xiii. 20, 21, etc.) 

But be it remembered "that God's ways are 
not as our ways, nor are his thoughts as our 
thoughts." Such matters are too high for us. 
It is not, I think, assuming too much, to say 
that we know none of God's works or opera- 
tions perfectly. We understand many of them 



48 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

in part, but only in part. We see, for instance, 
that He makes the herbs of the field grow, and 
bring forth fruits and flowers, by furnishing to 
them in various ways the necessary amount of 
heat, moisture, and electricity, together with 
their constituent elements of oxygen, carbon, 
hydrogen, etc. But is this all that He does ? 
Who can tell ? What botanist can define and 
describe for us all the springs and avenues of 
vegetable life % 

Or take, if you please, the animal econo- 
my. Is there any less mystery here? It is 
with very great pleasure and satisfaction that 
we trace the food taken into the stomach 
through the various processes of chymifica- 
tion, chylification, etc. But what physiologist 
has ever been able to explain satisfactorily the 
more recondite and ultimate processes of ani- 
mal life ? 

And, as we ascend still higher in the scale 
of being, is it not further manifest that mys- 
teries multiply ? What living philosopher can 
now fully explain even the phenomena of his 
own spirit, not to speak of the infinitely more 
profound and mysterious operations of that 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 49 

Spirit that garnished the heavens, and that 
brought again from the dead the body of the 
Lord Jesus ? 

It seems to me that a being who does not 
know himself; who does not comprehend the 
essence of his own spirit, and who cannot per- 
fectly explain even those ordinary operations 
by which it moves his body, and gives life, en- 
ergy, and direction to all his members — such a 
being should, I think, be very cautious in his at- 
tempts to set limits to the power and the oper- 
ations of Jehovah. If God has created the uni- 
verse, He of course knows how to govern it ; 
how to touch any spring or cord that may be 
necessary to produce any desired effect. And 
if all created means, providentially directed and 
applied, are not sufficient to accomplish the 
given end or purpose, He has in that event but 
to speak and it is done ; but to command, and 
it stands fast. : 

"We have therefore no controversy with any 
one touching the workings and operations of 
the Spirit of God in the regeneration of man : 
provided that he does not, by his false theories 
and vain speculations, contradict the word of 



50 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

God, or make void the means which God has 
Himself provided, in infinite wisdom and love, 
for the salvation of mankind. But this much 
we may and we do affirm : 

1. That God is no respecter of persons 
(Acts x. 14 ; Rom. ii. 11, etc). And therefore 
whatever He does for the salvation of one man, 
He is willing and anxious to do, under like con- 
ditions and circumstances, for the salvation of 
all men. 

2. That the word of God is the good seed 
of the kingdom, by means of which the Holy 
Spirit "begets a new life in the soul. This is 
proved by the following passages : 

(1.) " I write not these things to shame 
you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. For 
though ye have many instructors in Christ, ye 
have not many fathers : for, in Christ Jesus, I 
have begotten you through the Gospel" (1 Cor. 
iv. 14, 15). From this it is very evident that 
all the members of the Corinthian Church had 
been begotten by means of the Gospel. But 
the Holy Spirit is the author of the Gospel. 
And hence this passage serves to explain, at 
least in part, how it is that the Spirit begets 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 51 

a new life in the soul of every convert of 
Christ. 

(2.) " Of his own will begat he us with the 
icord of truth, that we should be a kind of first- 
fruits of his creatures " (James i. 18). Here 
the Father is said to beget Christians by means 
of the word of truth. But He evidently does 
this by His Spirit : for, says Christ, " It is the 
Spirit that quickeneth " (John vi. 63). 

(3.) " Seeing ye have purified your souls in 
obeying the truth, through the Spirit, unto un- 
feigned love of the brethren, see that ye love 
one another with a pure heart fervently, being 
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incor- 
ruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and 
abideth forever " (1 Pet. i. 22, 23). From this 
we learn that all the Christians of Pontus, 
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, were 
begotten by the Holy Spirit through the word 
of truth. And surely what was true of these, 
and of the Corinthian brethren, and of all the 
Hebrew converts who were scattered abroad, is 
true also of all Christians at all times, and un- 
der all circumstances. (But see also Luke viii, 
4-15 ; John vi. 44, 45, etc.) 



52 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

3, That there is not in all the Bible a sin- 
gle instance of any one's being begotten or re- 
generated without the word of truth / nor is 
there given in the Holy Scriptures any evi- 
dence that an Apostle or Prophet ever prayed 
that any one might be baptized in the Holy 
Spirit in order to his conversion* 

* It has long been a question with critics, whether or 
not the baptism of the Holy Spirit is still continued in 
the Church of Christ. I am inclined to think that it is, 
for the following reasons : 

1. It seems, from the testimony of John the Baptist, 
that Christ was to be a "baptizer as well as himself; and 
that all who were baptized by him in water, would also 
be baptized by Christ either in the Holy Spirit or in 
fire. (See Matt. iii. 11, 12.) But it can hardly be sup- 
posed that this prophecy was wholly fulfilled in the 
baptism of the one hundred and twenty Galileans on 
the day of Pentecost, a. d. 34. It is not necessary to 
speak here of Cornelius and his household ; for of course 
none of them were baptized by John. We must there- 
fore either conclude that the prediction of John, given in 
Matthew (iii. 11, 12), so far as it relates to the baptism 
in the Holy Spirit, was wholly fulfilled in the baptizing 
the one hundred and twenty disciples at the beginning 
of Christ's mediatorial reign; or, otherwise, we are con- 
strained to admit that Christ still baptizes in the Holy 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 53 

Why, then, should erring and fallible men 
attempt to be wise above that which is written ? 
Why neutralize and set aside the power of the 
word of truth, as God's own appointed means 

Spirit, and that He will continue to do so " through all 
the days, even to the end of the age." "Which, then, of 
these two positions best accords with the text and the 
context given in the third chapter of Matthew, the first 
of Mark, and the third of Luke? Reader, what say est 
thou? 

2. The whole Church, or body of Christ, is now actu- 
ally filled and animated with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 
iii. 16, 17; Eph. iv. 4; etc.). And not only so, but ev- 
ery faithful member of this body is also filled with it ; 
so that we really dwell in the Spirit and the Spirit in 
us (John vii. 38, 39; 1 Cor. vi. 19; Eph. v. 18; etc.). 
And hence it seems to be a fact that the spirit of every 
Christian is immersed in the Holy Spirit. Whether or 
not this should be called a baptism in the Holy Spirit, is 
a mere question about words ; and whether it is the same 
overwhelming influence of the Spirit as that to which 
John the Baptist referred in speaking of Christ, may be a 
question for critics. But, be this as it may, it seems 
quite evident, from the above and other parallel passages, 
that the spirit of every Christian is as really immersed 
in the Holy Spirit as were the spirits of the one hundred 
and twenty disciples when the Spirit was first poured 



54 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

of conversion ? Why not preach the word as 
did the Apostles and Prophets, and leave 
things that are not revealed to the Father, Son, 
and Holy Spirit ? Why leave undone that part 

out on the day of Pentecost at the beginning of the 
kingdom. For, be it observed that the power to work 
miracles, which was then bestowed on the Apostles and 
others, was really no part of this baptism. It was to the 
one hundred and twenty disciples a necessary qualifica- 
tion, in order to the work of their ministry; and it was 
also to the multitude a sign and demonstration, that these 
disciples were all under the influence of the Holy Spirit. 
But I see no evidence whatever that this supernatural 
power was itself the baptism in the Spirit, nor that it 
was in any way essential to it. Balaam possessed this 
power in part, and so did Judas ; but neither of them 
was ever dajptized in the Spirit. This seems to be the 
peculiar honor and birthright of those who, under the 
reign of the Messiah, believe in Him ; in all of whom we 
are assured that the Holy Spirit actually dwells as a 
well of water springing up into everlasting life (see John 
iv. 14, vii. 37-39 ; Acts ii. 38, etc.). 

3. In Hebrews vi. 2, Paul evidently regards and 
treats the doctrine of ~baptisms (in the plural number) as 
an existing elementary principle of the Christian reli- 
gion. And this also seems to imply that all the disciples 
of Christ are still baptized in the Holy Spirit as well as 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 55 

of the work which God has assigned to us, and 
engage in the discussion of those profound and 
recondite matters which He has reserved to Him- 
self ? "What would you think of the farmer 

in water. For baptism in water, baptism in the Holy 
Spirit, and baptism in fire, are the only three baptisms 
known and recognized under the reign of Christ. 

I am aware that, in Ephesians iv. 5, Paul says that 
there is but one baptism. And, from this, some have 
very confidently inferred that baptism in water is now 
the only divinely-appointed and authorized baptism; 
while others have just as confidently inferred from this 
passage that baptism in the Holy Spirit is now the only 
valid and divinely-authorized baptism. 

The difficulty, however, in this case is only apparent. 
It arises wholly from the want of a due appreciation and 
comprehension of the proper scope of Paul's argument 
in Ephesians iv. 1-16. In every such case, we should 
consider very carefully what is the extent and what the 
comprehension of the premises ; for, otherwise, we are 
ever liable to embrace too much in our conclusion ; that 
is, we are liable to have something in our conclusion 
which is not found in our premises. This error is very 
frequently committed in interpreting the Holy Script- 
ures. Erom some of Paul's remarks, for instance, in 
the fourteenth chapter of Eomans, some have inferred 
that all days are now alike holy ; and that we are there- 



56 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

who would cease to plough and sow, and still 
hope to reap an abundant harvest, by simply 
investigating the mysterious processes of vege- 
table life, which lie far away beyond the reach 

fore now under no obligation whatever to sanctify the 
LordVday. But in Paul's premises we find no allusion 
to the LordVday, or to any other Christian ordinance. 
The Apostle is in this chapter speaking only of such 
things as are in themselves wholly indifferent. And 
hence we cannot from these premises draw any conclu- 
sion whatever concerning the Lord's-day. 

And just so it is with the argument of the same Apos- 
tle given in Ephesians iv. 1-16. From it we can infer 
nothing whatever, either for or against the baptism in 
the Holy Spirit, or the baptism in fire. The Apostle has 
here reference solely and exclusively to that baptism by 
and through which we are put into the one body, and 
made members of the one body. If some of the Ephe- 
sians had been baptized into Paul, some into Apollos, 
some into Cephas, and some into Christ, then indeed 
there would seem to be a propriety in their being sepa- 
rated into different sects and parties. But as they had 
all been baptized through the instructions and influence 
of one Spirit, into the one body, any schism in that one 
body would now seem to be as inconsistent with the 
unity of their baptism as it was with the unity of their 
faith. 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 57 

of all human philosophy ? Surely such a course 
of procedure would indicate on the part of any 
man a great want of practical wisdom. And 
yet this is just what a great many learned men 

To baptism in water, then, and to it alone, the Apostle 
has here reference. And hence the alleged discrepancy 
between Ephesians iv. 5 and Hebrews vi. 2 is only 
apparent — one of onr own construction and imagination. 
And hence we conclude that the doctrine of "baptisms (in 
water, in the Holy Spirit, and in fire) is still an impor- 
tant and fundamental element of the faith that was once 
delivered to the saints. This at least seems most prob- 
able from all the premises. 

But even if this were proved beyond the possibility 
of a doubt, it would by no means follow that any sinner 
is ever baptized in the Holy Spirit in order to his con- 
version. This baptism is administered by Christ Him- 
self, not to the alien, but to the Christian. The law of 
the kingdom of heaven, as given by the Apostles to all 
inquiring believers previous to their baptism in water, 
is simply this: "Kepent and be baptized, every one of 
you, in the name of Jesus Christ, in order to the remis- 
sion of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy 
Spirit" (Acts ii. 38). And accordingly, Paul says to 
the brethren of Galatia, " Because ye are sons, God has 
sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying 
Abba, Father " (Gal. iv. 6). And to the Ephesians, he 



58 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

have been long doing in their misguided zeal 
and efforts to reap a harvest of immortal souls. 
They have in a measure ceased to sow the good 
seed of the "kingdom / and they have too often 
instructed inquiring souls to wait until the 
Spirit of God sees fit to renew them by its own 
direct operations. Thousands, it is to be feared, 
have followed their unauthorized instructions, 
who are to-day beyond the reach of hope and 
mercy. God said to them, Believe the Gospel 
and obey Christ in all things which He has com- 
manded. But their teachers and religious guides 
said to them, Wait, wait, wait ! They did wait, 
until at length hell became their portion. 

It is time, therefore, that all such specula- 
tions should cease, and that all who preach the 
Gospel should preach it in its purity and sim- 

says, "In whom [Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye 
heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation : 
in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with 
the Holy Spirit of promise ; which is an earnest of our 
inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased pos- 
session, unto the praise of His glory." (See also John vii. 
37-39; Acts v. 32; Romans v. 5, viii. 9-11; 2 Cor. i. 
22 ; Eph. iv. 30 ; etc.) 



MAKE DISCIPLES. 59 

plicity, as did the Apostles of Christ. Let this 
be done by all, in the name of the Lord Jesus, 
and times of refreshing will again come from 
the presence of the Lord. 

Y. Finally, we may learn from these prem- 
ises that there is imposed on every one who 
hears the Gospel a very high obligation to re- 
ceive it and to obey it. For if Christ has by the 
grace of God tasted death for every man, and 
if He has sent the Holy Spirit to convince all of 
sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, then 
surely it is not a light matter to neglect, or to 
treat with indifference the offers of pardon, and 
justification, and sanctification, and redemp- 
tion through the infinite merits of His own aton- 
ing blood. The man who wilfully does this, 
imperils his own salvation, and is in danger of 
eternal condemnation. " For Moses truly said 
unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord 
your God raise up unto you of your brethren, 
like unto me ; him shall ye hear in all things 
whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall 
come to pass that every soul who will not hear 
that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among 
the people " (Acts iii. 22, 23). 



60 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

It is an awful thing, then, for a poor, help- 
less, perishing sinner to reject, even for a day 
or an hour, the overtures of Him who has all 
authority in heaven and on earth, and who will 
certainly judge the living and the dead at His 
appearing and His kingdom, when He " shall 
come in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them 
that know not God, and that obey not the gos- 
pel ; who shall be punished with an everlasting 
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and 
from the glory of His power, when He shall 
come to be glorified in His saints, and to be 
admired in all them that believe " (2 Thess. 
i. 7-10). Haste, then — 

"Haste, O sinner, to be wise ; 
Stay not for the morrow's sun; 
Wisdom warns thee from the skies, 
All the paths of death to shun." 



CHAPTER II. 

" Baptizing them into the name of the Fa- 
ther, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" 

In the investigation of this subject, the fol- 
lowing queries are naturally suggested : 

I. What is the meaning of the word bap- 
tize ? What action did Christ intend to express 
by the use of the original term baptizo ? 

II. Who are to be baptized ? Or, in other 
words, who are proper subjects of baptism ac- 
cording to the terms of this Commission ? 

III. What is the meaning of the phrase, 
" into the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Spirit ? " 

Let us briefly consider each of these in 
order. 

SECTION I. 

What is the meaning of the word baptize 

(baptizo) ? 

For the last five hundred years, this has 
6 



62 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

been a question of growing interest throughout 
Christendom. And even to-day the investiga- 
tion is still increasing in interest and impor- 
tance. This is owing chiefly to the influence 
that baptism has on the unity, harmony, and 
prosperity of the Church of Christ. A diver- 
sity of practice with regard to this ordinance 
serves to divide the Church itself. And, to esti- 
mate fully the consequences and bad effects of 
this division, is not a problem that is to be 
solved by the common rules of logic, or the 
known laws and principles of mathematics. 
The evils reach far beyond the narrow lim- 
its of time and sense. They belong not to the 
finite, but to the infinite. 

It is very important, therefore, that every 
man who hears the Gospel, and especially that 
every man who preaches the Gospel, should 
know what our Saviour meant when He said to 
his Apostles, Make disciples and baptize them. 
And this, I think, may be easily done by any 
and every man who can lay. aside his prejudices, 
and listen honestly to the testimony of inspired 
and uninspired witnesses. In this brief discus- 
sion I have not, of course, room for even a tithe 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 63 

of the evidence that might be given on this 
subject ; but, nevertheless, I will endeavor to so 
indicate and illustrate the proper course of ar- 
gument as to enable even the unlearned reader 
to draw for himself a fair logical and scriptu- 
ral conclusion. 

Let us, then, notice very briefly — 

I. — A Few Examples from Classic Authors. 

1. Aristotle, who flourished about three hun- 
dred and fifty years b. c, and who is celebrated 
throughout the world for his great accuracy in 
the use of terms, says, in his work " Concerning 
"Wonderful Keports," vol. vi., p. 136 : " They 
say that the Phoenicians, who inhabit the so- 
called Gadira, sailing four days outside of the 
Pillars of Hercules, with an east wind, come to 
certain desert places full of rushes and sea- 
weed ; which, when it is ebb-tide, are not im- 
mersed (haptizo), but when it is flood-tide are 
overflowed (Jcatakluzo)" 

2. Polybius flourished about one hundred 
and fifty years b. c. In his " History," book 
xxxvi., ch. 3, 7, while describing the manner of 



64: THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

taking the sword-fish with a sort of spear, or 
harpoon, he says : " And even if the spear falls 
into the sea, it is not lost : for it is composed 
of both oak and pine ; so that when the oaken 
part is immersed (baptizo) by the weight, the 
rest of it is buoyed up and easily recovered." 

3. Again, in book iii., ch. 72, 4, of the same 
work, the author, speaking of the passage of 
the Eoman army across the swollen Trebia, 
says: "They passed through with difficulty, 
the foot-soldiers being immersed (baptizo) as 
far as their breasts." 

4. Diodorus Siculus flourished about thirty 
years b. c. He wrote a history consisting of 
forty books ; in the first of which, while de- 
scribing the rapid rise of the Nile during its 
inundations, he says: "Most of the wild land 
animals are surrounded by the stream and 
perish, being submerged (baptizo) ; but some 
escaping to the high grounds are saved." 

5. Strabo, the contemporary of Diodorus, 
says in book vi., ch. 2, 9, of his " Geography : " 
"Around Acragas (in Sicily) are marsh-lakes, 
having the taste of sea-water, but of a different 
nature: for even those who cannot swim are 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 65 

not immersed (baptizo), but float like pieces of 
wood." 

In all these examples, which might be 
greatly multiplied to the same effect, it is evi- 
dent that nothing but the word immerse, or 
some one of its equivalents, would meet the 
requirements of the context. To substitute for 
it either sprinkle, or pour, or wet, or moisten, or 
wash, in any of these cases, would make sheer 
nonsense. 

II. — Examples feom the Septuagint. 

This version of the Old Testament was 
made in Egypt, under the patronage of Ptol- 
emy Philadelphus, about two hundred and 
eighty years b. c. The word baptizo occurs in 
it but four times : twice in the canonical 
books, and twice in the Apocrypha, as follows : 

1. 2 Kings v. 14 : " And Naaman went 
down and immersed (baptizo) himself seven 
times in the Jordan, according to the saying 
of Elisha ; and his flesh came again as the 
flesh of a little child, and he was clean." 

2. Isaiah xxi. 4 : " My heart wanders, and 
iniquity overwhelms (baptizo) me." 



66 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

3. Judith xii. 5-9 : " And the servants of 
Holofernes brought her (Judith) into the tent, 
and she slept till midnight. And she arose 
when it was toward the morning watch, and 
sent to Holofernes, saying, Let my lord now 
command that thy handmaid may go forth 
unto prayer. Then Holofernes commanded his 
guard that they should not hinder her. Thus 
she abode in the camp three days, and went 
out in the night into the valley of Bethulia, 
and immersed (baptizo) herself in the camp at 
the fountain. And when she came up, she 
besought the Lord God of Israel to direct her 
way to the raising up of the children of her 
people. So she came in clean, and remained 
in the tent until one brought her food in the 
evening." 

4. "Wisdom of Sirach xxxiv. 30 (English ver- 
sion 25) : " He that immerses (haptizo) himself 
after touching a dead body, if he touch it 
again what availeth his washing % " 

In the first of these . examples, the word 
haptizo is evidently used in its literal physical 
sense. There can be no doubt that JSTaaman 
dipped or immersed himself seven times in 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 67 

the river Jordan. In the other examples, the 
word is used figuratively. But, nevertheless, 
it retains in every case the ground idea of an 
immersion. In the second, as given in Isaiah, 
the immersion is represented as if caused by a 
wave or flood of iniquity. In this tropical 
sense, we are often said to be overwhelmed or 
baptized in cares, troubles, sufferings, etc. In 
the third and fourth examples, the idea de- 
signed to be expressed is that of a washing, 
made more thorough and complete by an im- 
mersion of the whole body ; as when the Jews 
are said to wash themselves by immersion 
when they come from the market, etc., Mark 
vii. 4. The word commonly used to denote a 
washing of the whole body is loud / but bap- 
tizo is frequently used instead of loud, when 
the person or thing to be washed is wholly im- 
mersed in water.* 

* From this custom seems to have originated the 
practice of baptizing proselytes among the Jews. There 
is no direct and positive evidence that this was in use 
before the destruction of Jerusalem. And hence some 
learned critics have inferred that it was derived from 
Christian baptism. But, as the Jews regarded and 



68 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

III. — Examples from the* New Testament. 

The verb lajptizo occurs in the New Testa- 
ment eighty times, and the noun baptisma 
twenty-two times. Of these the following will 
suffice for illustration : 

treated the Gentiles as unclean, Acts x. 28, etc., and as 
they were wont to purify the unclean, whether persons 
or things, by immersing them in water, Mark vii. 3, 4, 
it is most likely that the practice of baptizing prose- 
lytes was in vogue before the beginning of the Christian 
era. 

But, in any event, the Jewish custom but serves to 
confirm the doctrine of Christian immersion. The cer- 
emony of proselyte baptism is thus given by Kabbini- 
cal writers : The candidate for baptism, after having been 
circumcised and healed of his wound, "was stripped 
of all his clothes in the presence of three witnesses 
who had acted as his teachers, and who now acted as 
his sponsors, the fathers of the proselyte, and led into 
the tank or pool. As he stood there, up to his neck in 
water, they repeated the great commandments of the 
law. These he promised and vowed to keep ; and then, 
with an accompanying benediction, he plunged under the 
water. To leave one hand-breadth of his body unsub- 
merged would have vitiated the whole rite." — (Smith's 
Dictionary of the Bible, and Kitto's Encyclopaedia, Art. 
Proselytes.) 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 69 

1. Matt. iii. 5, 6 : " Then went out to 
him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the re- 
gion round about the Jordan, and were im- 
?nersed (baptizo) by him in the Jordan, confess- 
ing their sins." 

2. John iii. 23 : " And John was immers- 
ing (baptizo) in iEnon, near to Salim ; because 
there was much water there." 

3. Acts viii. 36, 38 : " And as they went on 
their way, they came to a certain water. And 
the eunuch said, See, here is water, what doth 
hinder me to be immersed Q>a/ptizd)1 .... 
And he commanded the chariot to stand still ; 
and they went down both into the water, both 
Philip and the eunuch : and he immersed (hap- 
tizo) him." 

4. 1 Cor. x. 1, 2 : " Moreover, brethren, I 
would not that ye should be ignorant that all 
our fathers were under the cloud; and all 
passed through the sea; and were immersed 
(baptizo) into Moses, in the cloud and in the 
sea." 

5. Col. ii. 12 : " Buried with him in im- 
mersion (baptisma), wherein also ye are risen 
with him, through the faith of the operation 



70 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

of God who liatli raised him from the 
dead." 

In all these cases, the radical idea of an 
immersion is made quite obvious by the terms 
and conditions of the context. In the first ex- 
ample, this is so very plain that no other words 
could be used to express it more clearly. In 
the second, the reason assigned for choosing 
iEnon as a place of baptizing is wholly with- 
out force and significance on any other hypoth- 
esis than that John was an immerser. The 
word iEnon means a fountain, or rather a great 
fountain. It comes from the intensive form of 
the Hebrew word aTiyin, which means a foun- 
tain. From the third example, it is very ob- 
vious that more than a cup of water was neces- 
sary in order to baptize the eunuch. In the 
fourth, the historical circumstances, as well as 
the terms of the context, all go to show that 
the Israelites were immersed into Moses in 
the cloud and in the sea. And, from the 
fifth, it is quite obvious that in every legal 
baptism there is, and of necessity must be, 
a symbolical representation of a burial and 
a resurrection. This is seen in every case 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 71 

of immersion ; but never in a sprinkling or a 
pouring. 

IY. — Examples from Josephus. 

Flavins Josephus was born in Jerusalem, in 
a. d. 37, and died in Rome about a. d. 100. 
He was of the sacerdotal order, of the sect of 
the Pharisees, and well instructed in both 
Greek and Hebrew literature. After the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, a. d. 70, he accom- 
panied Titus to Rome, where he spent the rest 
of his days in literary pursuits. His " His- 
tory of the Jewish "War," and his work on 
" Jewish Antiquities," were both written in 
Hebrew, and afterward translated by himself 
into Greek. The former was published about 
a. d. 75, and the latter about a, d. 90. He is cer- 
tainly one of the most learned of all the Helle- 
nistic Greek writers ; and, as he was contempo- 
rary with the Apostles, his writings are of the 
highest authority in settling the question as to 
the New-Testament meaning of the word ~baj?- 
tizo. The following examples are sufficient to 
illustrate his use of this term : 

1. " Jewish Antiquities," book iv., ch. 4, 6. 



72 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

Describing the manner of purifying the people 
during the thirty days that they mourned for 
Miriam, our author says : " When, therefore, 
any persons were defiled by the dead body, 
they put a little of the ashes (of the red heif- 
er) into spring-water; and immersing (bapti- 
zo) a branch of hyssop in it, they sprinkled 
them with it both on the third day and on the 
seventh ; and after that they were clean." 

2. " Antiquities," b. ix., ch. 10, 2. Speaking 
of the case of Jonah, Josephus says : " jSow at 
the first they durst not do so " (cast Jonah over- 
board), " esteeming it a wicked thing to cast a 
man who was a stranger, and who had commit- 
ted his life to them, into such manifest perdi- 
tion. But at last, when their misfortunes over- 
bore them, and the ship was just going to be 
submerged (baptizo), and when they were ani- 
mated to do it by the prophet himself, and by 
the fear concerning their own safety, they cast 
him into the sea. 5 ' 

3. "Antiquities," b. xv., ch. 3, 3. Describing 
the death of the young high-priest, Aristobulus, 
who, at the command of his brother-in-law, 
Herod the Great, was by the Gauls drowned 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. f3 

in a swimming-bath, he says : " Continually 
pressing down and immersing (haptizo) him as 
if in sport, while swimming, they did not de- 
sist till he was entirely suffocated." — (See also 
u Jewish War," b. i., ch. 22, 2.) 

4. " Jewish War," b. ii., ch. 18, 4. Speaking 
of the suicide of Simon after putting to death 
all the members of his own family, our author 
says : " So when he had gone over all his 
family, he stood on their bodies, to be seen by 
all ; and stretching out his right hand, that his 
action might be observed by all, he plunged 
(haptizo) his entire sword into his own bowels." 

5. " War," b. ii., ch. 20, 1. Having described 
the retreat of Cestius, the Roman general, from 
the walls of Jerusalem, Josephus says : "After 
this calamity had befallen Cestius, many of 
the most eminent of the Jews swum away from 
the city as from a ship when it is going to le 
submerged (baptizo)" 

6. " War," b. iii., ch. 8, 5. In this instance, 
Josephus is trying to persuade his Jewish 
brethren that it is better for them to fall into 
the hands of the Romans than to commit sui- 
cide. He says : " It may also be said that it 

7 " 



74 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

is a manly act for one to kill himself. No, cer- 
tainly ; but a most unmanly one : as I should 
esteem that pilot to be an arrant coward, who, 
out of fear of a storm, would sink (baptizo) his 
ship of his own accord." 

7. " "War," b. iii., ch. 9, 3. Describing the 
frightful condition of vessels in the port of 
Joppa during a violent storm, he says : " Now 
as these people of Joppa were floating about in 
this sea, in the morning there fell a violent 
wind upon them (it is called, by those that 
sail there, the Black North-wind), and then 
dashed their ships one against another ; and 
dashed some of them against the rocks, and 
carried many of them by force, while they 
strove against the opposite waves, into the main 
sea. For the shore was so rocky, and had so 
many of the enemy on it, that they were afraid 
to come to land : nay, the waves rose so very 
high that they overwhelmed (baptizo) them." 

8. " "War," b. iii., ch. 10, 9. Speaking of the 
unequal contest between the Jews and the Ro- 
mans on the Sea of Galilee, he says : " And 
when they (the Jews) ventured to come near 
the Eomans, they became sufferers themselves, 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. ?5 

before they could do any harm, to the others, 
and were submerged (baptizo) they and their 
ships together ; . . . . and as for such as 
were submerged (bajotizo) in the sea, if they 
lifted their heads up above the water, they 
were either killed by darts or caught by the 
vessels." 

Other examples might be given, but these 
are quite sufficient to warrant the conclusion 
that, in the writings of Josephus, the word 
baptizo always means to immerse, submerge, 
plunge, or dip. 

Y. — Testimony of the Greek and Latin 
Fathers. 
As the testimony of Josephus is of the 
highest authority in settling the current Helle- 
nistic meaning of the word baptizo in the first 
century of the Christian era, so also the testi- 
mony of the Christian Fathers is of paramount 
importance in determining what was the prac- 
tice of the primitive Church in administering 
the ordinance of baptism. And it therefore 
gives me pleasure to say that, under this head, 
the evidence is full and unequivocal. The 



76 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

few following examples will suffice for illustra- 
tion : 

1. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, was born at 
or near Jerusalem, about a. d. 315, and made 
bishop in 350. In his " Instruction on Bap- 
tism," he says : " For as Jesus, assuming the 
sins of the world, died, that having slain sin he 
might raise thee to righteousness ; so also thou, 
going down into the water, and in a manner 
Tjuried (tha/pto) in the waters, as he in the rock, 
art raised again, walking in newness of life." 

2. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea, 
and one of the most learned of the Greek 
Fathers, was born in Csesarea, in Palestine, 
A. d. 328, and died January 1, 379. In his work 
" On the Holy Spirit," he says : " Imitating 
the burial of Christ by the immersion (baptis- 
ma), for the bodies of those immersed (hapti- 
zo) are as it were buried in the water." And 
again he says in the same passage : " The water 
presents the image of death, receiving the body 
as in a tomb." 

3. John (afterward called Chrysostom, the 
golden-mouthed) Archbishop of Constantinople, 
and eminent both for his learning and his 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 77 

piety, was born in Antioch, about a. d. 347, 
and died in exile A. d. 407. In bis " Com- 
mentary on 1 Corinthians," discourse xl., i., he 
says: "For to he immersed (iaptizo) and to 
sink down, then to emerge, is a symbol of the 
descent into Hades, and of the ascent from 
thence. Therefore Paul calls the immersion 
(baptisma) the burial, saying, We were buried 
with him by the immersion (baptisma) into 
death." 

4. Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria, in 
his " Commentary on ISTahum," about a. d. 
1070, says : " For there is one immersion (hop- 
tismci), as also one faith, because of the doc- 
trine respecting the initiation being one in all 
the Church, which has been taught to im- 
merse (haptizo) with the invocation of the 
Trinity, and to symbolize the Lord's death and 
resurrection by the threefold sinking down 
and coming up." 

5. Tertullian, one of the 'most learned and 
pious of the Latin Fathers, was born in Car- 
thage, about a. d. 160, and died about a. d. 240. 
In the following extracts from the writings of 
this eminent scholar, we have the most clear 



78 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

and satisfactory evidence with regard to the 
action of baptism in the primitive Church. 

(1.) In his work " On the Resurrection of the 
Body/' ch. xlvii., he says : " Know ye not that 
so many of us as were immersed (tingo) into 
Christ Jesus, were immersed {tingo) into His 
death ? . . . . For by an image we die in bap- 
tism (baptisma) / but we truly rise in the flesh, 
as also did Christ." 

(2.) In his work " Against Praxeas," ch. 
xxiv., he says : " And last of all, commanding " 
(referring to the command of Christ in Matt, 
xxvii. 19) " that they should immerse (tingo) 
into the Father, and the Son, and the Holy 
Spirit," 

(3.) " On the Soldier's Crown," ch. iii. : "Then 
we are three times immersed (mergo), answer- 
ing somewhat more than our Lord prescribed 
in the Gospel." 

(4.) " On Baptism," ch. vii. : " As of bap- 
tism (baptismus) itself there is a bodily act, 
that we are immersed (mergo) in water; a 
spiritual effect, that we are freed from sins." 

6. Ambrose was born at Treves, in Gaul, 
a. d. 340, and died at Milan, a. d. 397, where he 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 79 

had presided as bishop for about twenty-two 
years. In his work " On the Sacraments," b. 
ii., ch. 7, he says : " Thou wast asked, Dost thou 
believe in God the Father Almighty? Thou 
saidst, I believe ; and thou didst sink down 
(mergo\ that is, thou wast huried" 

7. Jerome was born at Stridon, in Dalma- 
tia, about a. d. 342, and died in Bethlehem, in 
Palestine, a. d. 420. He has, by common con- 
sent, been styled " the greatest of all the doc- 
tors in expounding the divine oracles." In 
his " Commentary on Ephesians," b. ii., ch. 4, 
he says : " And thrice we are immersed (mergo), 
that there may appear one sacrament of the 
Trinity." 

8. Alcuin was born in York, England, A. d. 
735, where he was well instructed by "the 
venerable Bede." In a. d. 782 he was invited 
to France by Charlemagne, who constantly 
consulted him on all matters pertaining to the 
religious and literary improvement of his em- 
pire. In his " Epistle to the Church at Lyons," 
while speaking of the common doctrine and 
practice of the Catholic Church, he says : " And 
so in the name of the Holy Trinity, he " (the 



80 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

candidate) " is baptized (baptizo) with a trine 
submersion (siihnersio)" 

Such extracts might be multiplied indefi- 
nitely, but this is unnecessary. Those already 
given, in connection with the examples and il- 
lustrations cited from the Greek classics, the 
Septuagint, the New Testament, and Josephus, 
prove beyond all doubt that the proper mean- 
ing of the word baptize is to immerse ; and 
that immersion was, in fact, for several centu- 
ries, the common practice of the Christian 
Church. * This, it gives me pleasure to say, 

* From about the middle of the third century, sprink- 
ling or pouring was, in cases of alleged necessity, oc- 
casionally substituted for immersion. The practice be- 
came more general as the authority of the Apostles 
waned, and that of the Popes increased, in the "Western 
Churches. But "it was not till the year a. d. 1311 
that the legislature, in a council held at Ravenna, de- 
clared immersion or sprinkling to be indifferent. In 
Scotland, however, sprinkling was never practised, in 
ordinary cases, till after the Reformation, about the 
middle of the sixteenth century. From Scotland it 
made its way into England, in the reign of Elizabeth, 
but was not authorized in the established Church." — 
{Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, Art, Baptism.) 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 81 

is the testimony of Luther, Calvin, Turretin, 
Bishop Bossuet, Bishop Taylor, George Camp- 
bell, Moses Stuart, Dr. "Wall, Mosheim, Giese- 
ler, Neander, and, in fact, I may say, of all 
the most eminent writers on this subject, Pedo- 
baptist as well as Baptist. 

How, then, does it happen that sprinkling 
is now so prevalent throughout so great a part 
of Christendom ? By what authority has it been 
substituted for immersion, and on what author- 
ity does it now rest as an ordinance of the 
Church of Christ? 

On the Catholic hypothesis, it is a very 
easy matter to answer all such questions. Con- 
cede that the Pope is the infallible successor of 
the Apostle Peter, and that to him have been 
committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven, 
with all the authority that is necessary to 
change times and laws ad libitum, and then all 
is plain and consistent. Then, indeed, he may 
substitute pouring, sprinkling, or any thing 
else that he chooses, for immersion. This, as 
perhaps all my readers are aware, is the Catho- 
lic ground of defence ; and we are constrained 



82 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

to admit that it has at least the merit of con- 
sistency. 

But, can any Protestant defender of sprink- 
ling give as consistent an answer to these ques- 
tions? Can he stand up before heaven and 
earth, and say to the candidate for baptism, 
" By the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, I 
sprinkle or pour water upon you ? " If so, where 
is this authority given ? 

It is of course conceded by all true Protes- 
tants, that the Apostles have really no succes- 
sors; that they themselves still live in their 
writings; and that in this capacity they still 
rule and govern the Church, and will govern it, 
while Christ sits on the throne of His glory : 
and, moreover, that this being so, it is now not 
only presumptuous, but also exceedingly sinful 
and dangerous for any man or body of men to 
change, or in any way set aside, any law or or- 
dinance which bears the seal of Apostolic au- 
thority. This is, in fact, the cardinal and fun- 
damental principle of Protestantism. The 
man who receives this, and consistently con- 
forms his life to it, is a Protestant ; nay, more, 
he is a Christian. But the man who rejects 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 83 

this fundamental principle, and claims that 
there is now authority vested in any man or 
council, to change or modify, in any sense, a 
law or ordinance of Christ, is a Papist. There 
is really no middle ground to be occupied on 
this question. 

Whence, then, I again ask, do Protestants 
derive their authority for either pouring or 
sprinkling water on the face or person of any 
man? 

I do not wish to be censorious. I have no 
pleasure in finding fault with such men as Lu- 
ther, Zwingle, Calvin, Knox, and "Wesley. I 
revere their memories, and humbly try to imi- 
tate their many virtues. But, as an apology 
for the errors and inconsistencies of these great 
and good men, be it remembered — 

I. That they were all more or less under the 
influence of Popery f as, perhaps, we all are, 
to some extent, even to this day. The work of 
reformation is, of necessity, a very slow and 
difficult process. It is so even with an individ- 
ual, but it is much more so with a people, a 
Church, or a nation. Nothing short of plenary 
inspiration would have enabled Luther, Calvin, 



84: THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

and Wesley, to at once divest themselves of all 
the* evil effects and influences of their previous 
education, and to see in their just and proper 
proportions all the elements of the entire plan 
of redemption. They each did a great and 
glorious work in their day and generation ; and 
all things considered, they did it well. But 
they found the Church under a cloud ; and 
with all their zeal, labor, and self-denial, they 
were able to but partially disperse the dense 
fogs and mists which were then intercepting 
from her vision much of the glorious light and 
effulgence of the Sun of Righteousness. 

II. There is also another element that 
should always be taken into the account in 
every attempt that we make to apologize for 
the great and good Protestant Reformers ; and 
to estimate aright the great and mighty work 
w T hich, under God, they have done for the civ- 
ilization and salvation of the world. If it is 
true, as it undoubtedly is, that all men now see 
but in part and know but in part, it is also 
equally true that, owing perhaps chiefly to our 
very limited field of vision, one extreme almost 
invariably leads to another. This is a law of 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 85 

our fallen nature, from the influence of which 
even the great and good Reformers of the six- 
teenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth 
centuries, have not wholly escaped. They 
found, for instance, in the Roman Catholic 
Church the very absurd doctrine of baptismal 
regeneration. This gave to baptism, as an ele- 
ment of the Christian system, an influence and 
an importance which the holy Apostles and 
Prophets never attached to it. The error is, 
in fact, fundamental and soul-destroying. It 
ascribes to the shadow what can only belong to 
the substance. It substitutes the water of bap- 
tism for the blood of Christ and the renewing 
influence of the Holy Spirit, to the eternal dis- 
appointment and ruin of thousands — perhaps, 
indeed, of millions, who might be saved through 
the influence of the truth. 

All true Protestants have felt this, and pro- 
tested against it. But, while avoiding Scylla, 
how very liable we all are to fall into the vor- 
tex of Charybdis ! While opposing the errors 
of baptismal regeneration, and every other 
species of formalism, many Protestants have 
unwittingly fallen into the opposite extreme. 



86 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

Some ignore baptism in water as a matter 
that is wholly inconsistent with the known 
spirituality of the Christian religion. Others 
regard it as "a mere outward sign of an 
inward cleansing ; " and, from these' inadequate 
and erroneous premises, they hastily infer that 
it is of but little consequence how this outward 
sign is applied, provided only that water be 
used in some way as a symbol of inward puri- 
fication. 

That this is the ground now occupied by 
most Protestant pedobaptists, will appear from 
the following concessions of the very learned, 
pious, and amiable Prof. Philip Schaff. He 
is very justly regarded as a representative man ; 
and he gives, in substance, the views of nearly 
all the great and good Protestant pedobaptist 
Reformers. In speaking of the action of bap- 
tism in his " History of the Christian Church," 
vol. i., p. 123, he says : " That the usual form 
of the act was immersion is plain from the 
original meaning of the Greek Iwptizein and 
ficijptismos ; from the analogy of John's bap- 
tism in the Jordan; from the Apostles' com- 
parison of the sacred rite with the miraculous 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 87 

passage of the Eed Sea, with the escape of the 
ark from the flood, with a cleansing and re- 
freshing bath, with a burial and resurrection ; 
and from the custom of the ancient Church, 
which prevails in the East to this day." And, 
again, on the same page, he adds : " Unques- 
tionably immersion expresses the idea of bap- 
tism more completely than sprinkling. But it 
is a pedantic Jewish literalism, to limit the 
operation of the Holy Spirit by the quantity 
or the quality of the water. Water is abso- 
lutely necessary to baptism as an appropriate 
symbol of the purifying and regenerating 
energy of the Holy Grhost ; but whether the 
water be in large quantity or small, cold or 
warm, fresh or salt, from river, cistern, or 
spring, is relatively immaterial." 

This is, in some respects, the opposite ex- 
treme of the Popish doctrine. If Catholic 
pedobaptists overestimate the value of bap- 
tism as an element of the Christian system, it 
is equally obvious to every candid and unpre- 
judiced student of the Living Oracles that 
Prof. Schaff and his many Protestant peclo- 
baptist brethren undervalue it. And hence 



88 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

it is not at all surprising that, with their inade- 
quate views of the design of baptism, they should, 
as a matter of convenience, substitute sprinkling 
for immersion. 

III. There is still another matter to be con- 
sidered in this apologetic explanation of the 
conduct and teachings of many of the great 
Protestant Reformers. The extreme error into 
which many of them have fallen, touching the 
action of laptism, is owing largely to their neg- 
lect or failure to discriminate properly between 
moral and positive institutions. A moral 
law or ordinance has its foundation, first, in the 
nature of God ; and, secondly, in the nature and 
relations of things created. It may, therefore, 
not unfrequently be at least partially under- 
stood from the study of Nature, and especially 
of the relations which the subjects of the law 
sustain to each other and to the law-giver. 
And hence it is that in the Holy Scriptures 
moral laws are for the most part expressed 
generically ; or it may be that they are merely 
indicated by some moral example which ex- 
presses to the mind of the Christian philoso- 
pher a moral law or principle, just as the fall 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 89 

of Newton's apple indicated to his mind the 
existence of a physical law. 

But a positive law has no such natural basis. 
It depends for its existence and all that pertains 
to it, wholly and exclusively, on the will of the 
law-giver. And hence the necessity that every 
positive law should he expressed in the most 
clear ', definite^ and specific terms possible : and, 
furthermore, that it should be interpreted and 
obeyed according to the strict letter and conven- 
tional meaning of the terms used to express it. 

This important difference between moral 
and positive precepts will be best understood 
and illustrated by an example. Take, for in- 
stance, the lesson that Christ taught His disci- 
ples, as recorded in John xiii. 13-15 : " Te 
call me master and Lord " (says Christ) ; " and ye 
say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and 
master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to 
wash one another's feet. For I have given you 
an example, that ye should do as I have done 
to you." 

What is the nature of this injunction? 
Does Christ, by His example and instruction on 
this occasion, design merely to teach His disci- 



90 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

pies a great moral lesson ? or does He, as some 
think, design to make feet-washing a positive 
ordinance in the Church, like baptism and the 
Lord's Supper % If the former is His intention, 
then it is obvious that the duty inculcated by 
His example is a very broad and comprehensive 
one. It requires simply that, as the followers 
of Christ, we should perform any and every 
menial service which may be necessary to pro- 
mote in any way the health, comfort, and hap- 
piness of our brethren. This may consist in 
washing their hands, bathing their temples, or 
sponging their bodies, as well as in washing 
their feet. But not so if this is & positive or- 
dinance. In that event, nothing but the literal 
washing of the feet will meet the requirements 
of Christ. It will not do to wash the face, 
bathe the body, or sprinkle water on the feet, 
as a substitute for this. The feet must, in that 
event, be literally washed, just as Christ washed 
the feet of His disciples ; or otherwise the ordi- 
nance is perverted.* 

* Some persons, observing this diffenence between 
the moral and positive precepts of God, have erroneous- 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 91 

To those who have any remaining doubts 
on this subject, I would respectfully recommend 

ly inferred that the latter are of more binding obligation 
on ns than the former; and that, when they come in 
conflict with each other, as they are often supposed to 
do, we should therefore, in all such cases, obey the posi- 
tive and disregard or neglect the moral. 

But, can there be any real conflict in the laws of 
God ? Are they not all expressions of His will ? And 
can His will be ever at variance with itself? This is, of 
course, often the case with the human will. Man is im- 
perfect ; ever liable to err ; and hence it is not strange 
that his laws and purposes should often be in conflict 
with each other. But it is not so with God. He is 
infinitely perfect. And hence it follows, of necessity, 
that all His coexisting laws are in perfect harmony with 
each other. True, indeed, He may, for wise and benevo- 
lent reasons, make different laws for different ages and 
dispensations ; and these may sometimes seem to be in 
conflict. He may, for instance, require that, in one age, 
the seventh day of the week shall be wholly sanctified 
to His glory ; and that, in another, the first day of the 
week shall be so set apart and sanctified. But, be- 
tween those laws and ordinances that are of the same 
age, and under the same economy, there can be no con- 
flict whatever. To affirm otherwise, is to speak dis- 
paragingly of the wisdom and perfections of God. 



92 THE GEEAT COMMISSION". 

the careful study of the laws and institutions 
of Moses, both moral and ceremonial. And, as 
an introductory lesson for the instruction and 

Neither is it true that the positive precepts are more 
important and of more binding obligation on us than the 
moral. The former are in a good measure arbitrary, de- 
pending chiefly, or solely, on the will of the law-giver; 
and may, therefore, be changed by him at pleasure. But 
not so, certainly to the same extent, with the moral 
laws of God. These have their foundation primarily in 
IJis own nature, and their conditions in the relations 
which the subjects of His moral government sustain to 
Himself and to one another. And hence it follows, of 
necessity, that the laws are as permanent and as immu- 
table as are the relations on which they depend. No 
lapse of time, or mere change of circumstances, can ever 
cancel or annul the moral obligations which every 
rational man owes to his Creator. And hence Christ 
gives to the law of love the supremacy over all other 
laws. "Hear, O Israel," said He, "the Lord our God is 
one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first com- 
mandment. And the second is like it, namely, this: 
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none 
other commandment greater than these " (Mark sii. 29- 
31). 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 93 

encouragement of beginners in this department 
of moral philosophy and sacred literature, we 
will take the consecration of the priests, as re- 
corded in Exodus xxix., and Leviticus viii. and 
ix. In the course of this ceremony it was re- 
quired — 

1. That Moses should bring Aaron and his 
sons to the door of the tabernacle, and then 
wash them in water (Lev. viii. 5, 6). 

2. That he should clothe them in their own 
proper sacerdotal garments (v. 7-9). 

3. That he should anoint the tabernacle, 
the laver, the altar, and Aaron himself, with 
oil made out of given parts of pure myrrh, 
cassia, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, and 
olive-oil (v. 10-12. See also Ex. xxx. 22-33). 

4. That he should bring a bullock for a sin- 
offering ; cause Aaron and his sons to put their 
hands on its head ; kill it ; put some of its 
blood on the- horns of the brazen altar ; pour 
out the rest of the blood at its foot ; burn the 
fat on it, and the rest of the carcass without 
the camp (v. 14c-lT). 

5. That he should bring a ram for a burnt- 
offering ; cause Aaron and his sons to put their 



94 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

hands on its head ; kill it ; sprinkle its blood 
on the altar ; and then burn the whole victim 
as a holocaust on the altar (v. 18-21). 

6. That he should bring another rani for a 
peace-offering ; cause Aaron and his sons to lay 
their hands on its head; kill it; put some of 
its blood on the right ear of Aaron and his 
sons, on the thumb of their right hand, and on 
the great-toe of their right foot; and then 
sprinkle the rest of the blood on the altar (v. 
22-24). 

7. That he should then take the fat of this 
ram of consecration; his rump, his kidneys, 
his caul, and his right shoulder, with one loaf 
of unleavened bread, one cake of oiled bread, 
and one wafer anointed with oil; put them 
into the hands of Aaron and his sons, wave 
them for a wave-offering, and then burn them 
on the altar (v. 25-28). 

8. That he should wave the breast, and 
take it as his own portion (v. 29.) 

9. That he should take some of the blood 
of this ram of consecration from the altar, 
mingle it with oil, and then sprinkle the com- 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 95 

position on Aaron, and on his sons, and on 
their garments (v. 30). 

10. That he should cause Aaron and his 
sons to boil the rest of the flesh of this ram, 
at the door of the tabernacle, and then eat it 
with unleavened bread (v. 31, 32). 

How very definite, then, and minute are all 
these specifications ! Every particular, even to 
the consecration of the right ear, the right 
thumb, and the great-toe of the right foot of 
Aaron and his sons, is limited, defined, and 
particularized, by a " Thus saith the Lord" 
And for the wilful neglect of any such law, 
rule, or regulation, the penalty was death. 
" The soul," says God, " that doeth aught pre- 
sumptuously, whether he be born in the land, 
or is a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord ; 
and that soul shall be cut off from among his 
people. Because he hath despised the word of 
the Lord, and hath broken his commandment, 
that soul shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity 
shall be upon him " (Numb. xv. 30, 31). This 
law was fearfully illustrated in the case of !N"a- 
dab and Abihu, who, it seems, with the spirit 



96 THE GEEAT COMMISSION. 

of a modern rationalist, presumed to offer 
strange fire before the Lord (Lev. x. 1, 2). 

But does any one allege that there is now 
no snch law, or principle, binding on the fol- 
lowers of Christ? — and that, under the Gos- 
pel, we are at liberty to disregard every thing 
like " Jewish literalism" and to change or 
modify the positive ordinances of Christ, ac- 
cording to our own imperfect sense of pro- 
priety ? If so, where is this license given ? Let 
any one produce it, and then the question as to 
the proper action of baptism is settled forever. 
We will all reverently bow to the law of Christ, 
and rejoice in the liberty bestowed. 

But be not deceived. Every such sugges- 
tion is from the Man of Sin. Paul, speaking 
by the Spirit, teaches us a very different lesson. 
" For if the word spoken by angels," he says, 
" was steadfast, and every transgression and 
disobedience received a just recompense of re- 
ward, how shall we escape if we neglect so 
great salvation ? " (Heb. ii. 2, 3.) It is there- 
fore just as true under the ISTew Covenant, as it 
ever was under the Old Covenant, that not 
even one jot or one tittle of the divine law can 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 97 

be wilfully neglected, or set aside with impu- 
nity (Matt. v. 18). So long, then, as the twelve 
Apostles sit on twelve thrones judging the 
twelve tribes of Israel, so long will it be the 
solemn duty of every man who hears the Gos- 
pel, and believes it, to be buried with Christ in 
baptism ; and also in it to rise with Him, to 
walk in newness of life. (See Rom. vi. 1-4, 
and Col. ii. 12.) 

That sprinkling and pouring, then, should 
be universally discarded, and that all true be- 
lievers should be immersed into the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit, we respectfully but most earnestly 
plead and urge, chiefly for the following rea- 
sons: 

I. This is the law of Christ given in the 
Commission, and plainly illustrated by the 
evangelical labors of the Apostles, and other 
primitive Christians* This, of itself, is a 

* If Christ intended that His Apostles should sprin- 
kle, pour, wash, wet, or moisten, the disciples with water, 
why did He not say so ? All scholars concede, without 
debate, that the words raino and rantizo mean to sprin- 
kle ; that cheo means to pour ; louo, to wash the body ; 



98 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

reason that is altogether sufficient and para- 
mount. For, if Christ has all authority in 
heaven and on the earth, it is certainly His 
province to command, and it is our duty as 
well as our honor and privilege to obey. 

II. Because, if this were done, it would serve 
very greatly to promote unity, peace, and har- 



nipto, to wash the hands, feet, etc. ; pluno, to wash gar- 
ments ; and that orecho means to wet, or moisten. But 
it is also equally certain that there is no other word in 
the Greek language that expresses the idea of immersion 
so clearly, distinctly, and definitely, as the word baptizo. 
Why, then, did Christ and His Apostles use it ? 

"We often, with much force and propriety, ask the 
Pelagian, If, by the word pliusis (nature) in Eph. ii. 3, 
the Holy Spirit meant ethos (custom) or nomos (law), 
then, why did it not use one of these terms in this con- 
nection? Why use the word which, in both classic 
and Hellenistic Greek, is most frequently used to denote 
that which is innate, or inborn ? And just so we may 
here inquire with regard to oaptizo. If, by this term, 
the Holy Spirit did not intend to express the idea of an 
immersion, why did it not use some other word ? Why, 
on this hypothesis, did it use that very term which, of all 
the words in the Greek language, expresses the idea of 
an immersion most clearly and distinctly ? 



MEANING OF BAPTIZE. 99 

mony among the followers of Christ. For this 
our Saviour Himself prayed, and for this all 
His faithful disciples are now praying. But it 
is utterly vain to expect unity, peace, and har- 
mony among God's people, so long as sprink- 
ling or pouring is substituted for immersion. 
Many of us never can, and by the grace of 
God never will, unite with others on such a 
basis. "We love to see peace and harmony in 
the Church ; but we dare not, for the sake of 
these, sacrifice a law or ordinance of Christ. 

III. It would tend very greatly to the con- 
version and salvation of the world. "When 
Christ prayed that all His followers might be 
one, He, of course, had some reference to their 
own comfort, convenience, and welfare. But 
it is worthy of remark that His main object in 
making this request was, that the world might 
believe (John xvii. 21). He foresaw, of course, 
all the evil Consequences of division among His 
followers ; and He desired that as far as pos- 
sible they might all be prevented. But that 
which seems to have most deeply affected His 
great and tender heart was the fact that, in 
consequence of these divisions, many precious 



100 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

souls for whose redemption He was about to 
die, would be lost — finally and utterly lost ! 

Will, then, our pedobaptist friends think of 
these things, and do what they can to remove 
existing evils? It is utterly vain to expect 
union on any basis of human construction. 
We must, of necessity, have the sanction of 
DIVIKE AUTHOK1TY before we can be 
united, and cooperate as we should for the con- 
version and salvation of the world. 

SECTION II. 

Who are to he laptized ? 

Evidently not the nations as such, but the 
disciples. The word nations {ethnee), in the 
Greek, is in the neuter gender, and the pronoun 
tliem (autous) is in the masculine. And hence the 
pronoun represents by syllepsis only those who, 
through the instructions of the Apostles and their 
coadjutors, become disciples of Christ. Besides, 
it is evident from the terms of the Commission, 
that the work of making disciples is prior, in 
point of time, to that of baptizing.* Christ 

* This same lesson is also very plainly taught in many 
other passages of Scripture, as well as in the Commis- 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 101 

says, Go and first make disciples ; secondly^ 
baptize tliem ; and, thirdly r , teach, them to ob- 
serve all things whatever I have commanded. 
But to make disciples of all persons in any and 
every nation is practically impossible. Some 
persons, as infants and idiots, have not the 
capacity that is necessary in order to become 
disciples ; and others have not the will or the 
disposition to come to Christ, and to submit to 
His authority. "Ye will not," says Jesus, 
" come to me that ye may have life." 

sion. Thus, for example, it is said in John iv. 1, that 
" Jesus made and taptized more disciples than John : " 
from which it is plain that both John and Jesus first 
made disciples, and then baptized them. During Christ's 
personal ministry here on earth, He made many disciples, 
but none of them were baptized into Him as their Lead- 
er, until the day of Pentecost, which next followed 
after His death, burial, and resurrection. Many were, 
of course, baptized under His ministry, according to the 
baptism which John preached. But it was not till the 
day of Pentecost, a. d. 34, that the disciples of Christ • 
were by His authority baptized into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And 
hence it is evident that a man may, nay rather that he 
mmt, be a disciple of Christ before he is baptized. He 



102 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

And hence we never read of the Apostles 
baptizing any but penitent believers ; men and 
women who realized and acknowledged that 
they were sinners ; and who trusted in Christ 
as the Son of God and Saviour of sinners. 

This point is so very important that I deem 
it necessary to illustrate it with more than or- 
dinary care and precision. Let us, then, if you 
please, notice every case of baptism recorded 
in the Acts of the Apostles, and as many other 

is not a Christian until, like Christ, lie is anointed with 
the Holy Spirit, which ordinarily takes place immedi- 
ately after baptism : though Cornelius and his household 
were so anointed before they were baptized. But this 
was an extraordinary case. The law of the kingdom of 
heaven, touching the anointing of the Holy Spirit, is 
given as follows by the Apostle Peter, in his reply to 
the earnest inquiry of the Pentecostal believers: "Ke- 
pent," he says, "and be baptized, every one of you, in 
the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins ; and 
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." And in 
harmony with this, he says, in Acts v. 23, that God gives 
the Holy Spirit to them that obey Him. Every Chris- 
tian is therefore a disciple of Christ ; but every disciple 
of Christ is not a Christian. A Christian is an anointed 
disciple. 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 103 

cases of conversion as may serve to throw light 
on this subject. These examples are, of course, 
the very best possible commentary on the Com- 
mission; and they were recorded for our in- 
struction and guidance in the great work of 
saving the world from sin and death. They 
occur as follows : 

I. Acts ii. 37-41 : " Now when they heard 
this " (all that Peter had just said respecting 
Christ as the anointed Sovereign of the uni- 
verse), " they were pierced to the heart, and said 
unto Peter, and to the rest of the Apostles, Men 
and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter 
said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every 
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for 
the remission of sins ; and ye shall receive the 
gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to 
you and to your children, and to all that are 
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God 
shall call. And with many other words did he 
testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from 
this untoward generation. Then they that 
gladly received his word were dajptized; and 
the same day there were added unto them 
about three thousand souls." 



104: THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

This is all in beautiful harmony with the 
terms of the Commission. Christ had said to 
His Apostles, Go and first make disciples, and 
then baptize them.* They did so. They first 
preached the Gospel to the people ; and then 
they baptized those, and those only, " who 
gladly received the word." 

II. Acts iii. 19-21, and iv. 4 : " Repent, 
therefore, and turn, that your sins may be 
blotted out, in order that the times of refresh- 
ing may come from the presence of the Lord ; 
and that He may send forth Jesus Christ, be- 
fore appointed for you: whom the heavens 
must indeed receive, until the times of the res- 
toration of all things which God spoke by the 
mouth of all the holy prophets from the begin- 
ning. . . . But many of those who heard the 
word "believed / and the number of the men be- 
came about five thousand." 

This is but another illustration of the same 

* No one was ever baptized by the authority of Christ 
into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Spirit, before the beginning of the kingdom, on 
the day of Pentecost, a. d. 34. But, previous to this, 
Christ had many disciples. 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 105 

Divine order and process of making disciples, 
and adding them to the Church. Through the 
good providence of God, the multitudes were 
gathered together, and Peter preached to them 
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And having 
again demonstrated that Jesus of Nazareth is 
the Messiah, and perceiving, no doubt, from 
sundry clear and unmistakable indications, that 
many of his audience had faith to be saved, he 
said to them : " Repent, and turn to God, in 
order that your sins may be blotted out, and 
that times of refreshing may come from the 
presence of the Lord." For this the Apostles 
were imprisoned and persecuted. But, never- 
theless, many of those who heard the word, be- 
lieved and obeyed. 

Here, then, we have another clear case of 
the conversion and implied baptism of adults. 
But in all that is said in this part of the sacred 
narrative, there is not the slightest evidence 
that any but lelievers were added to the 
Church. 

III. Acts v. 12-14: "And by the hands 
of the Apostles were many signs and wonders 
wrought among the people. And they were 



106 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

all with one accord in Solomon's porch ; and of 
the rest durst no man join himself to them; 
but the people magnified them. And believers 
were the more added to the Zord, multitudes 
both of men and women." Here we have given 
another very marked instance of believers being 
added to the Lord, but no others. 

IV. Acts vi. 7 : " And the word of God 
increased ; and the number of disciples multi- 
plied in Jerusalem greatly ; and a great com- 
pany of the priests were obedient to the faith." 
Here, again, we observe the same train and 
order of events. The influence of the Gospel is 
greatly increased in Jerusalem ; and, as a con- 
sequence, a great many priests, but no children, 
became obedient to the faith. 

Y. Acts viii. 5-12 : " And Philip went 
clown to the city of Samaria, and preached 
Christ unto them. And the people with one 
accord gave heed unto those things which Phil- 
ip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles 
which he did. . For unclean spirits crying with 
a loud voice came out of many that were pos- 
sessed with them ; and many taken with pal- 
sies, and that were lame, were healed. And 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 107 

there was great joy in that city. But there 
was a certain man called Simon, who before- 
time in the city used sorcery, and bewitched 
the people of Samaria, giving out that he him- 
self was some great one : to whom they all 
gave heed, from the least to the greatest, say- 
ing, This man is the great power of God. And 
to him they all had regard, because that of 
long time he had bewitched them with sorce- 
ries. But when they 'believed Philip preaching 
the things concerning the 'kingdom of God, and 
the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized 
loth men and women" 

From this passage, it is evident that the 
primitive Evangelists, in making converts to 
Christ, followed strictly the law of the Com- 
mission, as did also the Apostles. Philip does 
here in Samaria just what Peter had before 
done in Jerusalem. That is, he first preached 
the Gospel to the people, demonstrating beyond 
all reasonable doubt that Jesus is the Christ. 
And when they believed Philip, they were bap- 
tized, both men and women, but no infants. 

VI. Acts viii. 35-38 : " Then Philip opened 
his mouth and began at the same Scripture, 



103 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

and preached unto him Jesus. And as they 
went on their way, they came to a certain wa- 
ter : and the eunuch said, See, here is water ; 
what doth hinder me to be baptized ? And 
Philip said, If thou belie vest with all thy heart, 
thou mayest. And he answered and said, I 
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 
And he commanded the chariot to stand still, 
and they went down both into the water, both 
Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him." 

Whether the thirty-seventh verse of this 
chapter is genuine or spurious, does not in the 
least affect our present argument. For, from 
the whole connection, it is obvious — 

1. That it was God's purpose to convert the 
eunuch ; and that this was to be done accord- 
ing to the law of the Commission, by preach- 
ing Christ to him. 

2. That, through the preaching of Philip, 
the eunuch was led to believe in Christ: as 
Paul says in Romans x. 17, " Faith comes by 
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 9 ' 

3. And, finally, it is evident that, as soon as 
he believed, he was baptized, and went on his 
way rejoicing. 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 109 

VII. Acts ix. 17, 18 : "And Ananias went 
his way, and entered into the house; and put- 
ting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the 
Lord, even Jesus, that appeared to thee in the 
way as thou earnest, hath sent me that thou 
mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the 
Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from 
his eyes as it were scales ; and he received his 
sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized." 

Paul, like other men, was converted to 
Christ through the influence of the truth. And 
when he Relieved in Christ as the Son of God, 
he was baptized, calling on the name of the 
Lord. 

VIII. Acts x. 44-48: "While Peter was 

yet speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell 

on them who heard the word. And they of the 

circumcision who believed were astonished, as 

many as came with Peter ; because that on the 

Gentiles also was poured out the * gift of the 

Holy Spirit. For they heard them speak with 

tongues and magnify God. Then answered 

Peter, Can any one forbid water that these 

should not be baptized who have received the 

Holy Spirit as well as we? And he command- 
10 



HO THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

ed them to be baptized in the name of the 
Lord.' 5 

From the evidence here submitted, com- 
pared with Acts xv. 9, it is perfectly evident 
that none but believers, who were capable of 
glorifying God, received in this instance the 
Holy Spirit, and were baptized. 

IX. Acts xi. 19-21 : " Now they who were 
scattered abroad by the persecution that arose 
about Stephen, travelled as far as Phenice, and 
Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to 
none but Jews. And some of them were men 
of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they were 
come to Antioch, spoke to the Greeks, preach- 
ing the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the 
Lord was with them : and a great number be- 
lieved, and turned to the Lord" 

This passage is somewhat elliptical, being 
sufficiently explained by what precedes. But, 
even from this brief narrative, it is quite ob- 
vious that in Antioch, as well as in Jerusalem, 
Samaria, Csesarea, etc., the Gospel was first 
preached to those who were capable of hearing 
and understanding it; and, secondly, that as 
many as gladly received the word, turned to the 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. m 

Lord by submitting to all the requirements of 
the Gospel. 

X. Acts xvi. 14, 15 : " And a certain wom- 
an named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city 
of Thyatira, who worshipped God, beard us : 
1 wbose heart the Lord opened to attend to the 
things spoken by Paul. And when she was 
baptized and her household, she besought us, 
saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to 
the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. 
And she constrained us." 

Some have inferred that there may have 
been infants in this household, and also in that 
of Cornelius (Acts x. 14) ; that of the jailer 
(Acts xvi. 31) ; and that of Stephanas (1 Cor. 
i. 16). But be it observed, that what is here 
required is not the evidence of possibility, nor 
even of probability, but of - absolute certainty. 
For it is manifest, as we have seen, that the 
terms of the Commission are against infant 
baptism : so that, unless it can be shown clearly 
and unequivocally that the Apostles did bap- 
tize some infants, it follows, of necessity, that 
the law of the Commission must be taken in its 
plain and most obvious sense. But this never 



112 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

can be done.* For of the household of Cor- 
nelius it is said that they all feared the Lord 
(Acts x. 2) ; of that of the jailer, that they all 
believed in God (Acts xvi. 34) ; and of the 
household of Stephanas, it is said that they had 
devoted themselves to the service of the saints 
(1 Cor. xvi. 15). So that the house of Lydia is 
really the only one concerning which there is 
any room for doubt. And even this doubt, if 
doubt it may be called, seems to wholly vanish 
when we find that in the fortieth verse of the 
same chapter (Acts xvi.), the members of this 
household are called " brethren." At all events, 
it can never be proved from this passage that 
an infant was ever baptized by the authority of 
Christ, or of His Apostles. And, consequent- 
ly, we are still constrained to believe that the 
law of Christ, given in the Commission, has 
reference only to the baptism of believers. 

* " No express mention is made of infants in the 
command of Christ, which initiated this rit-3; and no 
distinct case of the baptism of infants is ni sntioned in 
the sacred narrative." — [Hanna's Life of Christ, vol. vi., 
p. 310.) In this concession of Dr. Hanna, colour nearly 
all of the most learned and pious pedobaptist writers 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. H3 

XL Acts xvi. 29-34 : " And calling for lights, 
lie" (the jailer) "sprang in, and trembling 
fell down before Paul and Silas; and having 
brought them out said, Sirs, what must I do to 
be saved ? And they said, Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy 
house. And they spoJce to him the word of the 
Lord, and to all that were in his house. And 
taking them along, the same hour of the night, 
lie washed their stripes ; and was baptized, he 
and all his immediately. And having brought 
them into his house, he set food before them, 
and rejoiced, believing in God with all his 
house" 

From this passage we learn — 

1. That Paul and Silas spoke the word of 
the Lord to the jailer, and to all that were in 
his house. And — 

2. That they all believed before they were 
baptized. 

XII. Acts xviii. 5-8 : " And when Silas 
and Timothy were come from Macedonia, Paul 
was pressed in spirit, and testified to the Jews 
that Jesus is the Christ. And when they op- 
posed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his 



114 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

raiment and said to them, Your blood be on 
your own heads ; I am clean ; from henceforth 
I will go to the Gentiles. And he departed 
thence and entered into a certain man's house 
named Justus ; one that worshipped God, 
whose house joined hard to the synagogue. 
And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, 
believed on the Lord with all his house. And 
many of the Corinthians hearing helieved, and 
were baptized." 

Here, again, we have the same order and 
succession of events : 

1. The people hear the word of the Lord. 

2. They believe it. 

3. They are, by the authority of Christ, bap- 
tized into the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 

From all these examples, then, it is very . 
evident that the practice of the Apostles and 
primitive Evangelists was in perfect harmony 
with the law of Christ given in the Commis- 
sion; that is, they first made disciples, and 
then they baptized them. And hence we are 
constrained to conclude that infant baptism is 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 115 

without any warrant, sanction, or authority, in 
the word of God. 

But it is argued that the Jewish Church 
was typical of the Christian Church; and as 
there were confessedly infants in the former, so 
also it is alleged there should be infants in the 
latter. This is the ground which is now occu- 
pied by the most pious and learned of the Prot- 
estant pedobaptists. And as it is in itself a 
plausible hypothesis, and supported also by 
many of the most illustrious Protestant Re- 
formers, it is deserving of at least a very candid 
and impartial consideration. 

I think, however, that the following remarks 
are quite sufficient to show that the conclusion 
is erroneous, and that the position is therefore 
wholly untenable. Observe, then — 

I. That the points of analogy between the 
type and the antitype are generally very few. 
The resemblance is in all cases but partial. 
And hence, in reasoning on and from such mat- 
ters, it is very necessary that great caution 
should be observed, lest peradventure we em- 
brace in our conclusion what is wholly unwar- 
ranted by our premises. Adam, for instance, is 



116 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

said to be a type of Christ (Kom. v. 14). But 
surely nothing could be more erroneous than to 
infer from this that Adam resembles Christ in 
every particular. It is true that they each sus- 
tain a peculiar relation to the entire human 
race, and also that their conduct has affected 
the entire race. But it is not true that their 
acts have affected the race in the same way or 
in the same degree. The conduct of the for- 
mer brought a curse on the entire race ; but the 
conduct of the latter has brought a great bless- 
ing on all, and especially on those who are of 
the household of faith : " For as in Adam all 
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive " 
(1 Cor. xv. 22). "For as by one man's disobe- 
dience the many were made sinners ; even so, by 
the obedience of the one, shall the many be 
made righteous " (Eom. v. 19). 

II. Before, therefore, it can be logically in 
f erred, from the analogy that exists between the 
Jewish and Christian Churches, that infants 
may of right be baptized into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 
it must be shown that infant membership is one 
of the points of resemblance that were designed 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. Hf 

and preordained hy the Divine Founder of 
these two institutions. That it was God's in- 
tention tliat there should be lobes in both, is of 
course conceded. But this is not enough. It 
must be further shown that these babes are of 
the same class with respect to their age, and 
their intellectual and moral developments. 
But, that this never can be done, is obvious 
from several considerations : 

1. From the nature and Me necessity of the 
case. 

The covenant which God made with Abra- 
ham was twofold ; each branch of it being also 
called a covenant. The first referred to Abra- 
ham's posterity according to the flesh ; and the 
second to his posterity according to the Spirit. 
The members of the former, except those only 
who were proselyted, or bought with money, 
became such by a birth of flesh ; and were, 
therefore, at the time of their initiation into 
the covenant, but babes in the kingdom of 'Na- 
ture. But the members of the latter, as it is 
now fully developed, under the personal reign 
of Christ, become such by a birth of water and 
of the Spirit ; and must, therefore, be of suffi- 



118 THE GREAT COMMISSION 

cient age and intelligence to understand the 
word of truth (John iii. 3-5). 

All this will be made plain by the following 
passages : 

(1.) Gen. xvii. 7: "And I will establish 
my covenant between me and thee, and thy 
seed after thee in their generations, for an ever- 
lasting covenant, to be a God to thee and to 
thy seed after thee." The plain and obvious 
meaning of this passage is, that all the children 
of Abraham were, from the period of their birth 
and by virtue of their birth, members of this 
covenant in its first intention ; just as all the 
children of Adam are, by virtue of their birth, 
subjects of the Adamic covenant. 

I know, some are of the opinion that the 
children of Abraham became members of this 
covenant by virtue of their circumcision on the 
eighth day after their birth. * But for this 

* This opinion grew out of the assumption that cir- 
cumcision is a type of baptism. But for this opinion 
there is no warrant in the Living Oracles. Circum- 
cision under the Old Covenant was a type of the cir- 
cumcision of the heart by the Holy Spirit under the 
New Covenant (See "Scheme of ^Redemption," book 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. H9 

opinion there is not even the shadow of evi- 
dence in the whole Bible. On the contrary, it 
is quite evident, from the fourteenth verse of 
the same chapter (Genesis xvii.), that every child 
was from its birth regarded as a subject of the 
Abrahamic covenant, and as such was, for typi- 
cal reasons, held responsible from the moment 
of its natural birth. For, otherwise, how could 
it be said with propriety, of the child that was 
uncircumcised after the eighth day, that it had 
IroTcen God's covenant? Who but a subject 
of a covenant can be truthfully and properly 
said to break it ? 

(2.) Matt. iii. 9 : "And think not to say 
within yourselves, "We have Abraham to our 
father : for I say unto you, that God is able of 
these stones to raise up children to Abraham." 
From this, and many other like passages of 
Scripture, it is evident that the Jews all re- 
garded themselves as subjects of the Abrahamic 

ii., part i., chap, iii., pp. 79-82, by the author.) And 
the natural birth of the child, under the Old Economy, 
was made typical, or rather emblematical, of the birth 
of water and of the Spirit, under the New Economy. 
(John i. 12, 13, and iii. 3-5.) 



120 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

covenant, not by virtue of their circumcision, 
but in consequence of their birth. And this, 
within proper limitations, John does not deny. 
The common error of the Jews did not consist 
in their claiming to be in covenant with God 
by virtue of their descent from Abraham. This 
claim was just, and is often conceded in both 
the Old and the New Testament. But the 
Jews failed to perceive the twofold nature of 
the Abrahamic covenant; that it was in fact 
two covenants, respecting two families, and 
guaranteeing to each certain peculiar rights and 
privileges. And, failing in this, they claimed 
as members of the Old Covenant what be- 
long properly and exclusively to the subjects of 
the New Covenant. This was the great and 
fundamental error into which the Jews had all 
fallen ; and it is this that Christ and His Apos- 
tles, as well as John the Baptist, labored so 
much to correct. Even Nicodemus, the great 
teacher of Israel, had fallen into this error. 
He came to Jesus by night to learn more of 
Him respecting His mission as an ambassador 
from God, evidently presuming, however, that 
as a son of Abraham he was legally entitled to 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 121 

participate in the peculiar rights and privileges 
of the Messiah's kingdom. But Christ knew 
his thoughts, and at once labored to correct his 
mistake. He tells him that his natural birth 
as a son of Abraham was wholly unavailing ; 
and that every man, whether Jew or Gentile, 
must be born again before, as a citizen, he can 
enjoy the kingdom of God. This, of course, 
very greatly surprised Xicodemus ; and he pro- 
ceeded to inquire further into the possibility of 
this new birth, clearly showing that even he 
was trusting wholly in the flesh. But Christ 
immediately added, by way of explanation: 
" Yerily, verily, I say unto you, except a man 
be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot 
enter into the kingdom of God. That which 
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is 
born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I 
said unto you, ye must he lorn again" (John 
iii. 5-7. For further proof and illustration of 
this matter, see also John i. 12, 13 ; Bom. ix. 
6-8, etc.) 

It is evident, therefore, that the subjects of 
.the Old Covenant, save the few exceptions 

already named, were all made such, simply by 
11 



122 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

virtue of their natural birth ; but that no one 
can now become a subject of the New Cove- 
nant, as the fully-developed constitution of the 
Church of Christ, without being born of water 
and of the Spirit. Most of the members of the 
Church, under the old Theocracy, became such 
without any knowledge on their part whatever. 
Their minds were perfectly destitute of even 
the most simple and elementary ideas. But 
not so with the members of the Church of 
Christ. They are all begotten by the Holy 
Spirit, through the word of truth as the good 
seed of the kingdom. So James clearly and 
unequivocally testifies in his letter to the 
brethren of the Twelve Tribes, that were 
scattered abroad. " Of His own will," says 
he, " He (God) begot us with the word of 
truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits 
of his creatures " (James i. 18). And so also 
Peter testifies, in his first Epistle to the stran- 
gers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cap- 
padocia, Asia, and Bithynia: "Being born 
again," he says, "not of corruptible seed, but 
of incorruptible, by the word of God, which 
liveth and abideth forever" (1 Peter i. 23. 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 123 

See also Luke viii. 4-15 ; John vi. 44, 45 ; 1 
Cor. iv. 14, 15, etc). * 

* It is worthy of remark that the natural and the 
spiritual birth were at first both brought about by means 
of a long series of miracles. But now, so far as we 
know, they are both effected without a miracle, simply 
through the influence of such natural and providential 
agencies as God has Himself provided for this purpose. 
At all events, no man can prove that any one is now 
oegotten miraculomly, either as a child of Adam or a 
child of God. 

I am aware that some good men entertain the 
opinion that God still creates out of nothing (ex nihilo) 
a new soul, or spirit, for every infant born of the 
human race ; and that He does this just at the moment 
of its conception. They concede that the human body 
is propagated by natural generation; but they think 
that the spirit is an immediate creation from God. For 
the proof of this hypothesis, they rely on such passages 
of Scripture as Numbers xvi. 22, xxvii, 16 ; Job xii. 
10; Ecclesiastes xii. 7; Isaiah lvii. 16; Zechariah xii. 
1 ; and especially on Hebrews xii. 9, in which the 
writer says : " Furthermore, we have had fathers of our 
flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence: 
shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father 
of spirits and live ? " 

To some this evidence may at first seem plausible. 
But observe — 



124 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

From these premises, then, it clearly follows 
that no one is now born again without the 



1. That throughout the Bible the word flesh is often 
used symbolically for whatever is weak, depraved, and 
perishable. Thus it is often put for the whole man, 
or for all mankind in their fallen and sinful state ; as in 
Genesis vi. 12 ; Psalm lxxviii. 39 ; Isaiah xl. 5 ; lxvi. 
23, 24 ; Joel ii. 28 ; John iii. 6, etc. 

2. That the word spirit is in like manner often put 
as its antithesis, for whatever is strong, holy, and in- 
corruptible; as in John iii. 6, iv. 24; Hebrews i. 7, 
etc. 

3. That the object of the Apostle in Hebrews xii. 
9, is not to speak of the origin of either the body or the 
spirit of man ; but simply to draw a proper contrast 
between God and our earthly parents, with the view of 
more fully reconciling us to the Divine chastisements. 
For this purpose He reminds us that our earthly parents 
are like ourselves, carnal, frail, depraved, and ever liable 
to err. But, to show the infinite perfections of God, he 
reminds us that He is not only Spirit, but even the 
Father of spirits. And hence he argues that as God 
never errs, but, always corrects us for our good, we 
should patiently submit to His gracious chastisements 
and live. It seems to me, therefore, that this passage 
can never with propriety be quoted to sustain any 
theory, touching either the direct or the indirect crea- 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 125 

word of God. But the word of God can have 
no power to change the heart and control the 

tion of the human spirit. And this, I think, is equally 
true of all the other passages above referred to. They 
prove nothing in favor of either Creationism or Tra- 
ducianism. 

But that our spirits, as well as our bodies, are 
derived directly from our parents "by natural generation, 
is rendered at least very probable from the following 
considerations : 

1. From the testimony of Moses given in Genesis i. 
26, where he says: "And God said, Let us make man 
in our image ; and let them have dominion over the fish 
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the 
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping 
thing that creepeth upon the earth." Here the word 
man seems to be put for the whole species. And the 
language seems to imply that the whole species was 
created and vested in Adam on the sixth day, and by 
him to be propagated, as other species of the animal 
kingdom, by the laws of natural generation. 

2. Because it seems to be a law of the Divine 
economy, illustrated in the work of creation, providence, 
and redemption, to work by means, or through the 
agency and instrumentality of second causes, as far as 
possible. 

3. Because man's identity consists not in his material 



126 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

life, unless it be first understood. "He," says 
Christ, "that receiveth seed into the good 

but in his spiritual essence. And hence it would seem 
that, to deny the transmission of the soul, by the laws 
of natural generation, is virtually to deny the unity of 
the species. 

4. Because children resemble their parents in their 
spiritual as well as in their physical peculiarities. 

5. Because the Bible everywhere represents us as 
the children and descendants of Adam. But it is not 
the body that constitutes the man proper. It is but the 
house, or tabernacle, in which the spirit dwells (2 Cor. 

V. 1). 

6. Because it would be inconsistent with the known 
character and economy of God to place a pure and im- 
mortal spirit in a body so depraved and denied as that 
which we receive from our sinful parents. God has a 
place for every thing; and to every thing He assigns its 
own proper place. And hence, when Judas died, " he 
went to his own place n (Acts i. 25) ; and when Lazarus 
died he was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom 
(Luke xvi. 22) ; so also when Adam was created, he was 
placed in Eden (Gen. ii. 15). 

7. Because this hypothesis is more consistent with 
such passages of Scripture as Bomans v. 12, 18, 19; 
Ephesians ii. 3, etc., than is the doctrine of an imme- 
diate creation. 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 127 

ground, is he that heareth the word and under- 
standeth it ; who also beareth fruit, and bring- 
eth forth, some a hundred fold, some sixty, and 
some thirty " (Matt. xiii. 23). But to under- 
stand the word requires a degree of intellectual, 
moral, and religious development and intelli- 
gence, such as no child of Abraham ever had, 
either at the time of its birth or of its circum- 
cision. And hence it follows of necessity, from 
the nature of the case, that the babes of the 
Jewish Church were very different, in point 
of intellectual, moral, and religious character 
and development, from those who are the 
legitimate babes of the Church of Christ. 

2. This may also he still further proved ly 
the direct testimony of- the Holy Spirit. This 
is given with sufficient fulness in the following 
brief extract from the prophecy of Jeremiah : 
" Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I 

For these reasons I am inclined to think that the 
natural birth is brought about according to natural 
laws, and by means of natural and providential causes. 
And if so, this may furnish some analogical evidence 
that the spiritual or second birth is effected in like 
manner, without any immediate miraculous agency. 



128 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

will make a new covenant with the house of 
Israel, and with the house of Judah : not ac- 
cording to the covenant that I made with 
their fathers, in the day that I took them by 
the hand to bring them out of the land of 
Egypt ; which my covenant they broke, though 
I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. 
But this is the covenant that I will make with 
the house of Israel : After those days, saith the 
Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, 
and write it in their hearts ; and I will be their 
God, and they shall be my people. And they 
shall teach no more every man his neighbor, 
and every man his brother, saying, Know the 
Lord / for all shall Jcnoiv me from the least of 
them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord. 
For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will re- 
member their sin no more." (Jer. xxxi. 31-34. 
See also Heb. viii. 8-12.)* 

* The reader will observe that the word covenant 
is used bere, not in the sense of a promise merely, as in 
Gal. iii. 17, hut in its more common and comprehen- 
sive sense, as the constitution of the Church or kingdom 
of God. The two promises made to Abraham, respect- 
ing his two families, were syuchronous, dating as far 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 129 

"When God called tlie Israelites out of Egypt, 
He gave them a covenant, with the assurance 
that if they would faithfully observe and keep 
it, they would all be happy and prosperous. 
" The man " said He, " that doeth these things, 
shall live by them " (Rom. x. 5, and Gal. iii. 12). 
But it very soon became manifest that, accord- 
ing to the terms and conditions of that covenant, 
no flesh could be justified. The people all re- 
peatedly transgressed its requirements, and thus 
brought about and sealed their own condemna- 
tion. And hence it was that God graciously 
promised, by His servant Jeremiah, that the 
days would come when He would make a neio 

back as the year 1921 b. c. In 1491 b. a, the promise 
respecting his natural posterity was made the basis of 
the Sinaitic Covenant ; and, as then developed, it became 
the constitution of the Jewish Church, or national 
Theocracy. But it was not till the year a. r>. 34, that 
the other promise made to Abraham, respecting the 
family of the faithful, was in like manner fully developed 
and made the constitution of the Church of Christ. In 
this sense it is, therefore, a new covenant, compared 
with the Sinaitic Covenant, though each of them had as 
its basis a promise that was made to Abraham before he 
left Ur of Chaldea. 



130 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

covenant with the house of Israel and with the 
house of Judah. And He says, moreover, that 
it would not be according to the Old Sinaitic 
Covenant, but that it would differ with and 
from it in the following particulars : 

(1.) The New Covenant would he faultless •, 
whereas the Old Covenant was faulty (Heb. 
viii. 7, 8). The Holy Spirit here, of course, 
speaks relatively. The Old Covenant was, in 
one sense, just as perfect as the New ; that is, it 
was perfectly adapted to the end for which it 
was designed. But it never did, and never 
could, either justify, or sanctify, or save any one. 
And it is simply with reference to these ends 
and purposes that it is said to be faulty. God 
often addresses men according to their own 
conceptions of things. (See, for instance, Matt, 
xix. 17 ; John i. 21, etc.) 

(2.) The Old Covenant was written on stone 
and parchment j hut the JVew was to he written 
on the understanding and the heart ; and hence 
it would of course be far more efficacious in 
forming the character and controlling the wills 
and lives of the people than the Old Covenant. 
It is of but little use that the truth of God is 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. * 131 

written on marble, paper, or parchment, unless 
it is also written on our hearts. 

(3.) The subjects of the Old Covenant icere 
not all necessarily pious ; but all the subjects 
of the New Covenant must, of necessity, take 
Jehovah to be their God (Heb. viii. 10). Many 
of the natural posterity of Abraham as they 
grew up believed in God, and became mem- 
bers also of the family of the faithful, and sub- 
jects of the embryonic or imperfectly-developed 
covenant concerning Christ. For, the two 
promises relating to the two families were 
given to Abraham at the same time, and coex- 
isted as parts of the same general arrangement 
down to the end of the patriarchal age. And 
even when that which related only to the 
family of Abraham according to the flesh was 
finally and fully developed into a national cove- 
nant at Mount Sinai — even then that which 
related particularly and exclusively to the 
family of the faithful, was still associated with 
it and supported by it ; though all the while as 
distinct from it as the vine is from the oak 
which supports it. For, says Paul, " The law is 
not of faith " (Gal. iii. 12). And hence it was 



132 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

that many were subjects of tlie Old Covenant 
who were never, like Abraham, begotten by the 
Holy Spirit. But no one can really be a sub- 
ject of the New Covenant, and a member of 
the Church of Christ, who has not been born 
again (John iii. 3). 

(4.) Most of the subjects of the Old Covenant 
were, as we have seen, introduced into it by a 
birth of flesh ; and they had of course to learn 
afterward even the name and the existence of 
God. But all the subjects of the JVew Covenant 
enter into it and become members of the Church 
of Christ on the confession of their faith. And 
hence they must all, from at least the period of 
their new birth, know the Lord, even from the 
greatest to the least of them (v. 11). 

I am aware that this declaration (Heb. viii. 
11) is by many referred to the whole human 
race. But in this sense it never was true and 
never can be true. It clearly refers, as is evi- 
dent from the context, simply and exclusively 
to the members of the New Covenant, every 
one of whom must know the Lord, from the 
least of them even to the greatest of them. 
This, then, marks a contrast between the sub- 



SUBJECTS OF BAPTISM. 133 

jects of the Old and the New Covenant which, 
forever nullifies the claims of infant baptism, 

(5.) There was nothing in the Old Covenant 
that could really take away sins. And hence 
all the sins of the people vjere again remeinbered 
every year on the Day of Atonement. But un- 
der the New Covenant, the sins of God's chil- 
dren are remembered no more (v. 12). 

Under the Old Covenant, there was a lamb 
offered every morning, and also every evening, 
for the sins of the people. And besides these 
and the many annual offerings of the three 
great national festivals, there were also offered 
special weekly and monthly sacrifices. But 
nevertheless on the Day of Atonement (tenth 
day of the month Tishri) all the sins of the 
year were again called into remembrance. (See 
Leviticus xvi.) But it is not so under the more 
free and gracious economy of the New Cove- 
nant. The blood of Christ procures full and 
final pardon for all who comply with the terms 
and conditions of this covenant. And hence, 
on the day of judgment, the faithful will be 
treated as if they had never sinned (Ileb. 

x. 1-8). 

12 



134 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

(6.) The Old Covenant was abolished when 
Christ was crucified (Eph. ii. 14—17 ; Col. ii. 
14, etc.) ; but the New Covenant will continue 
in force while time endures (v. 13. Compare 
also Dan. ii. 44 ; Heb. xii. 28 ; 1 Pet. v. 12, etc.). 

Many other passages of Scripture might be 
cited to the same effect ; but this one from 
Jeremiah is, I think, quite sufficient for our 
present purpose. That none but believers in 
Christ should be baptized into the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit, is abundantly evident from each and 
all of the following considerations : 

1. From the terms of the Commission it- 
self. 

2. From the labors of the Apostles and 
primitive Evangelists. 

3. From the distinctive nature and design 
of the New Covenant ; and — 

4. From the direct testimony of the Holy 
Spirit. 



IXTO THE NAME, ETC. 135 



SECTION III. 



" Into the name of the Father ', and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Spirit." 

What is the meaning of this ? That the 
Greek preposition eis, in this connection, means 
into, and not in, as we have it in our common 
English version, is, I think, no longer a de- 
batable question. Dean Alford says: "It is 
unfortunate again, here, that our English 
Bibles do not give us the proper force of this 
eis, It should have been into (as in Gal. iii. 
27, al.), both here and in 1 Cor. x. 2, and 
wherever the expression is used." And to the 
same effect testify nearly all, if not quite all, 
of the most able and learned writers on the 
Commission. But conceding this, as well as 
the aforesaid meaning of the word haptize 
{immerse), and still the question occurs, "What 
is the full and exact import of this clause ? 
What did Christ mean when he said to his 
Apostles : " Immerse the disciples into the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Spirit ? " 



136 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

Perhaps a few remarks on the use of the 
word name, as it occurs in the Holy Scriptures, 
may serve to simplify in some measure the real 
construction and import of this passage. In 
the Hebrew and Hellenistic dialects, the word 
name often implies more than a mere abstract 
designation of the person represented. Very 
frequently it means the person himself, as he 
is revealed to us in the Scriptures. Thus, for 
instance, in the Old Testament, the name of 
God is very often equivalent to God Himself, 
as He is therein revealed to us. This is evi- 
dent from such examples as the following : 

1. Exod. iii. 13, 14: " And Moses said unto 
God, Behold when I come unto the children of 
Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of 
your fathers hath sent me unto you ; and they 
will say unto me, What is his name? what 
shall I say to them? And God said unto 
Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And he said, 
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of 
Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." Here 
the word name evidently means God Himself, 
revealed to the Israelites as the self-existent 
and immutable Deity ; and hence as the ever- 



INTO THE NAME, ETC. 137 

living and covenant-keeping God. The time 
had now come when God was about to fulfil 
many of His promises made to Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, and thus to give a fuller signifi- 
cance to the name Jehovah, than any of the 
fathers had hitherto attached to it. (See also 
Exod. vi. 3.) 

2. Dent. xii. 5 : " But unto the place which 
the Lord your God shall choose out of all the 
tribes to put His name there, even unto His 
habitation shall ye seek, and thither shalt thou 
come." Here, again, the phrase " to put His 
name," is equivalent to reveal Himself. 
There was the place of God's habitation; 
there was His presence ; and there the He- 
brews dwelt as under the shadow of the 
Almighty. 

3. Isa. 1. 10 : " Who is among you that 
feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of 
His servant, that walketh in darkness, and 
hath no light ? Let him trust in the name of 
the Lord, and stay upon his God." This is an 
instance of synonymous parallelism, in which 
the phrase, " to trust in the name of the Lord," 
is made equivalent to staying upon God, or 



138 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

trusting in God Himself as He is revealed in 
the Holy Oracles. 

In like manner the name of Christ is often 
put for Christ Himself, as He is revealed to us 
in the New Testament. This is obvious from 
the following examples : 

1. John i. 12 : " But as many as received 
Him, to them gave He power to become the 
sons of God, even to them that believe on Sis 
name." That is, believe on Himself, as the 
revealed Son of God. (See also 1 John v. 13.) 

2. Acts xix. 17 : " And this was known to 
all the Jews, and Greeks also, dwelling at 
Ephesus. And fear fell on them all; and the 
name of the Lord Jesus was magnified" That 
is, the Lord Jesus Himself, as God, revealed in 
the flesh, was magnified. 

This, then, is manifestly the meaning of the 
word name as it occurs in the Commission. It 
is in the singular number, and does not mean 
any particular title or literary designation of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit, taken either separately or conjointly ; 
but it means simply the Father, and the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit themselves, revealed to us 



INTO THE NAME, ETC. 139 

in the Holy Bible, as the one eternal and im- 
mutable Elolieem Jehovah ; the creator, pre- 
server, and upholder of all things ; to whom be 
honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 

The passage may, therefore, "without vio- 
lence, be rendered into the English idiom as 
follows : " Go ye, therefore, and make disciples 
of all the nations, immersing them into the 
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; the 
one God revealed in the Holy Scriptures." 

But still the question occurs, What does 
this mean ? The construction is now some- 
what simplified, but the meaning of the passage 
is still quite obscure. And this obscurity 
arises not from any want of clearness and pre- 
cision in the terms employed. These are all 
plain and well defined in the Living Oracles. 
But there is in this passage a depth and com- 
prehensiveness of meaning which I am inclined 
to think far transcends the utmost grasp of the 
human intellect. To be immersed into the 
infinite fulness of the Deity ! What does it 
mean ? 

Without attempting to exhaust the full 
meaning of this most profound and comprehen- 



140 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

sive oracle, I will endeavor to indicate, as 
briefly as I can, some of tlie lessons which I 
think its Divine Author intended to set forth 
and express by it and through it. And— 

I. It is evidently implied in this passage 
that in our iaptism into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 
a very important change tahes place in our 
relations. The particle into clearly indicates 
this, and the nature of the case also requires it. 
The relation between man and his Creator 
was at first very near and very intimate. 
Adam lived in God, breathed in God, and de- 
rived all his spiritual life from God. But when 
sin entered into the world, then death, in its 
widest and most comprehensive sense, also 
came into it. Man was then separated from 
his Maker; and for four thousand years the 
whole world, save only the few who through 
faith were renewed by the Holy Spirit, and 
thus reunited to God, were the willing slaves 
of sin and Satan. Indeed, so very general 
was the dominion of Satan over mankind, that 
Christ Himself calls him repeatedly " the 
Prince of this world.' 5 (See John xii. 31 ; 



INTO THE NAME, ETC. 141 

xiv. 30 ; and xvi. 11.) And John says : " We 
know that we are of God, and that the whole 
world lies in the Evil One " (1 John v. 19. 
See also Eph. ii. 2, and 2 Tim. ii. 26). 

But for this purpose was the Son of God 
manifested that He might destroy the works of 
the devil " (1 John iii. 8). For this purpose He 
not only died and rose again, but was also 
crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. For 
this purpose He set up His kingdom on earth, 
and instructed His Apostles to introduce into it 
all true believers by immersing them into the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Spirit. Henceforth their relations are all 
changed. In the act of their baptism, they 
voluntarily renounce all connection with Satan 
and his emissaries, and at the same time they 
vow eternal allegiance to God through Christ 
as their sovereign Lord and Master.* God is 

* I know it is believed by niany that this change of 
relationship takes place previous to our baptism, just as 
soon as we believe with all our heart that Jesus is the 
Christ, the Son of the living God. And that this is pa?*~ 
tially true must, I think, be conceded. The relations 
of the unbaptized believer are not strictly identical with 



142 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

now their Father ; Christ is their Saviour, their 
elder Brother, and their Redeemer ; the Holy 

those of the infidel. The nevT life begotten in the soul 
affects to some extent both the state and the relationship 
of the believer (Acts xv. 9). But that the change is 
consummated in baptism seems evident— 

1. From the terms of the Commission itself, as well 
as from many other passages of the Holy Scriptures. 
For, if the change is effected wholly by faith before bap- 
tism, then, why did Christ command His Apostles to 
baptize believers into the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ? And why, moreover, 
did Paul say to the Galatians, " As many of you as have 
been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ? " (Gal. 
iii. 27.) 

I know it is said also, that we believe into (eis) 
• Christ. (See John i. 12 ; iii. 15, 16, etc.) But when do 
we believe into Christ? At what particular stage or 
epoch of our new life does faith put us into Him? The 
Mississippi Biver carries steamboats. But where ? At 
its source? ]STo ; but after it has united with sundry 
other streams. And just so it is with respect to our 
faith. It, too, is a stream; a living stream which runs 
through our whole Christian life, and gives character to 
every thought, word, and action. And hence, if we 
would understand aright the expression, "believe into 
Christ," we must first learn, from the testimony of the 



INTO THE NAME, ETC. 143 

Spirit is their Advocate and Comforter; holy 
angels are their ministering servants ; and the 

Holy Spirit, at what particular stage of this river of life 
we are in fact introduced into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But this we 
have already learned. From the passages cited, we 
learn that faith, in connection with repentance, confes- 
sion, love, prayer, and baptism, puts us into this new 
and holy relation. Faith alone is not of itself sufficient 
to effect this change ; nor is baptism alone ; nor repent- 
ance alone; nor prayer alone; nor even love alone. 
But faith, from its very conception, begets within us a 
strong and abiding tendency to this change of relation- 
ship ; and, in the act of baptism, the change itself is 
fully consummated through the cleansing influence of 
the blood of Christ, and the circumcision of the heart 
by the Holy Spirit. (See u Scheme of Bedemption" pp. 
444-458, by the author.) 

2. This important fact may be still further illustrated 
by the typical history of the Israelites. Their faith in 
God, and in Moses as His servant, effected some change 
in their relations, even before their departure from 
Eameses. But, nevertheless, it was not till they entered 
the Bed Sea that they were baptized into Moses in the 
cloud and in the sea (1 Cor. x. 2). And till then they 
were still on the enemy's soil, and were severely threat- 
ened and annoyed by them. But from the moment that 



144 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

earth is no longer theirs by usurpation, but by 
and through the blood-bought rights of the 
everlasting covenant of God's grace, through 
which they can also now read their titles clear 
to mansions in the skies. 

But notice, if you please, the completeness 
and thoroughness of this change of relationship. 
It is not a partial change, such as might be in- 
dicated by pouring or sprinkling a little water 
on the face of the penitent believer. By no 
means. But it is such a change as is indicated 
by the immersion of the whole man — his body, 
soul, and spirit — into the fulness of Him that 
filleth all in all ; and of which the immersion 
in water is but the outward symbol ! The in- 
tellect, the heart, the will, as well as the body, 

they were immersed into Moses as their leader, they 
were completely and forever separated from Pharaoh 
and his martial host. And just so it is with the Chris- 
tian. His faith in God always changes his heart (Acts 
xv. 9) ; and his love strongly inclines him to Christ, 
from the moment that he first believes in Him. But it 
is in the ordinancef o baptism that, through faith and re- 
pentance, prayer and love, he puts on Christ, and hence- 
forth follows Him as his leader. 



INTO THE NAME, ETC. 145 

are all baptized into the Deity as He is re- 
vealed to us in the person of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Mo part 
or portion of the entire man is left under the 
will and government of the Evil One; but 
henceforth all is given up to Christ as our Sov- 
ereign Lord and Redeemer. 

How very beautiful, then, and how pro- 
foundly significant, is the ordinance of baptism 
when viewed from this stand-point, and con- 
templated in this light ! By it, and through it, 
we are not only translated from the kingdom 
of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son 
(Col. i. 13) ; but, still more, we are translated 
from Satan himself into God ! from the power, 
dominion, cunning, craft, malice, and damning 
influences of him who ever works in the chil- 
dren of disobedience, into the immeasurably 
profound and infinite depths of the Divinity 
itself! Surely such a change should inspire 
every one with solemn awe, and at the same 
time fill the soul of the humble, penitent, and 
obedient believer with a joy that is unspeak- 
able and full of glory. 

II. It implies also a change of state. This 
13 



146 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

is, of course, very nearly and intimately con- 
nected with the change that is effected in our re- 
lations. But it implies something more than this. 
It means that there is a state immediately result- 
ing from and growing out of our new relations 
which is vastly different from our previous 
state under the influence of our former rela- 
tions. This new state may be described — 

1. As a state of holiness. The past sins of 
the baptized believer are all washed away 
through the atoning, purifying, and sanctify- 
ing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is 
evident from the following passages : 

(1.) Mark xvi. 16: "He that believeth and 
is baptized, shall be saved." That is, he shall 
be saved from the guilt of sin, and also from 
the power and dominion of sin. "Sin shall 
not have dominion over you, for ye are not 
under law, but under grace" (Rom. vi. 14). 
"Knowing this also that our old man is cruci- 
fied with him, that the body of sin might be 
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve 
sin " (Rom. vi. 6).* 

* This does not mean that sin (by which term the 
Apostle here means our depravity or sinfulness) is wholly 



INTO THE NAME, ETC. 147 

(2.) Acts ii. 38 : " Then Peter said unto 
them, Repent and be baptized, every one of 
you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the re- 
mission of sins / and ye shall receive the gift 
of the Holy Spirit." No language, it seems to 
me, could more clearly indicate and express a 
change from a state of sinfulness to a state of 
holiness, than does this reply of the Apostle 
Peter to the inquiring Pentecostian converts. 
It is made as plain as language can make it, 
that both repentance and baptism were required 
of these persons in order to the forgiveness of 
their sins through the blood of the Lord Jesus 
Christ ; for it is this, of course, that cleanses 
from all sin (1 John i. *T). 

destroyed. Crucifixion does not imply annihilation. But 
it does imply a change of existing relations; a destruction 
of the physical and outward organization ; and a conse- 
quent diminution of the powers and influences of the being 
crucified. The broken and subdued spirit of sin still re- 
mains to some extent within us. But its body is de- 
stroyed ; its power is taken away ; it has no longer do- 
minion over us ; and we cannot now sin wilfully and 
habitually, as we formerly did, because we are born of 
God (1 John iii. 9). 



148 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

(3.) Acts xxii. 16 : " And now, why tarriest 
thou ? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away 
thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." 
Here, the washing of baptism is, of course, but 
an outward sign and symbol of the simulta- 
neous inward purification of the soul, through 
the atoning and sanctifying influence of the 
blood of Jesus. For, if the washing of water 
serves to purify our flesh, " How much more 
shall the blood of Christ, who, through the 
Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to 
God, purge (our) conscience from dead works 
to serve the living God " (Heb. ix. 14). 

(4.) Rom. vi. 1-4: "What shall we say 
then ? Shall we continue in sin that grace may 
abound? God forbid. How shall we who are 
dead to sin live any longer therein ? Know 
ye not that so many of us as were baptized into 
Christ, were baptized into His death ? There- 
fore we were buried with Him by baptism into 
death ; that, like as Christ was raised up from 
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so 
we also should walk in newness of life." 

Nothing could be more clear and direct than 
this testimony of the Apostle. In the preced- 



INTO THE NAME, ETC. 149 

ing chapter lie had shown the marvellous and 
superabounding fulness of God's gracious scheme 
of redemption : first, as a means of cancelling 
unconditionally all the effects and consequences 
of the Adamic transgression; and, secondly, 
as a means of blotting out on given condi- 
tions the personal sins of every true believer. 
But in this, the objecting Jew thinks there is 
too much grace. To him it seems more like a 
license to sin, than as a means of restraining 
and purifying the sinner. And he therefore 
very adroitly asks the question, "If the case is 
just as you represent it, Paul, should we not 
rather continue in sin that grace may abound ? 
Should we not continue to sin more and more 
in order that grace may abound more and 
more ? " To which the Apostle very conclusive- 
ly and forcibly replies : " Certainly not ; for how 
can we who have died to sin, live any longer in 
it ? How can we live in that from which we 
have been separated ? " 

But, perceiving that just here many would 
be ready to ask the question, "When were we 
separated from our sins, and consecrated to a 
life of holiness? — perceiving this, he im- 



150 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

mediately proceeds to answer the * question. 
Why, says he, do you not know that so many 
of us as were baptized into Christ, were bap- 
tized into His death ? Do you not know that, 
when we were by His authority baptized into 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Spirit, we were at the same time 
by the Divine arrangement baptized into the 
death of Christ, and placed under all the heal- 
ing, cleansing, and purifying influences of His 
blood? And, as we were then symbolically 
buried with Him by baptism into death, so also 
we were, in and through the same ordinance, 
by God's appointment, raised up with Him in 
a state of holiness to walk in newness of life. 
For " If any man be in Christ, he is a new 
creature. Old things are passed away; and 
behold all things are become new" (2 Cor. v. 
17). And hence it is that the Scriptures 
abound in exhortations to every Christian to 
live in holiness, and to walk in harmony with 
the new state into which he was immersed by 
the authority of the Lord Jesus. (See, for in- 
stance, Eom. vi. 12-14, and viii. 12-17.) 

2. It may be considered as a state of Iiappi- 



INTO THE NAME, ETC. 151 

ness. There is, indeed, an essential connection 
between holiness and happiness. Constituted 
as we now are under the government of God, 
it is simply impossible that the unholy man can 
be a happy man ; or that one who is holy can 
be permanently unhappy. It is a great mis- 
take to suppose that our happiness depends 
simply, or even chiefly, on our external - circum- 
stances. Heaven is a state as well as a place. 
And there may be, and no doubt often is, a 
heaven or a hell within us, as well as without 
and around us. 

But if the heart is pure, then all is well. 
For Christ says : " Blessed are the pure in 
heart, for they shall see God." This is enough ; 
we can ask nothing more. To be with God, 
and to be like God, is the consummation of all 
blessedness. But the heart of the believer is 
purified, as we have seen, by the blood of 
Christ in the act of baptism. And as soon as 
this takes place, the Holy Spirit takes up its 
abode in the renewed heart, filling it with 
" love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance." 
And hence it is that everv true child of God, 



152 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

who has put on Christ by baptism, may, like 
the eunuch, "go on his way rejoicing." 

3. It is also a state free from all possible 
external danger, so long as we faithfully walk 
in it, " The name of the Lord is a strong 
tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is 
safe 5? (Prov. xviii. 10). For " if God be for 
us, who can be against us ? He that spared 
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us 
all, how shall He not with Him also freely give 
us all things? "Who shall lay any thing to the 
charge of God's elect? It is God that justi- 
iieth. "Who is he that condemneth? It is 
Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, 
who is even at the right hand of God, and who 
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall 
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall 
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or fam- 
ine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (As it 
is written, For thy sake w r e are killed all the 
day long ; we are accounted as sheep for the 
slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are 
more than conquerors through Him that loved 
us. For I am persuaded that neither death, 
nor life, nor . angels, nor principalities, nor 



INTO THE NAME, ETC. 153 

powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature 
shall be able to separate us from the love of 
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord " (Rom. 
viii. 31-39). 

How immeasurably great, then, are the 
blessings and benefits that God has conferred 
on those who have been immersed into Him, 
and who continue to walk in Him, according 
to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus ! 
How very near, dear, and sacred, are the rela- 
tions which every Christian sustains to the 
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit ! 
May God, in His infinite mercy, give us all 
grace to comprehend these things as we should ; 
and to walk worthy of the high and holy call- 
ing whereby we have been called from dark- 
ness to light, and from the power and dominion 
of Satan into the kingdom and fellowship of 
His own dear Son ! 

" Gracious Saviour, we adore Thee; 
Purchased by Thy precious blood, 
We present ourselves before Thee, 
Now to walk the narrow road ; 

Saviour, guide us — 
Guide us to our heavenly home." 



CHAPTER III. 

" Teaching them to observe all things what- 
soever I have commanded youp 

This, of course, implies that the disciples 
are to be instructed in all things pertaining to 
life and godliness. They are now supposed to 
be believers in Christ ; to have made the good 
Confession ; and to have been baptized, by the 
authority of Christ, into the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 
But, nevertheless, they still need to be instruct- 
ed in relation to their duties, honors, privileges, 
birthrights, and obligations, as the redeemed 
sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty. 
The disciples of Christ are all called into His 
kingdom to work ; to assist in every way that 
they possibly can both to edify the Church and 
to convert the world. But, before they can do 
this properly, they must themselves be well in- 
structed in the laws, ordinances, rights, privi- 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 155 

leges, and obligations of the kingdom of heaven. 
And hence it seems that it was always an im- 
plied purpose of God that the followers of 
Christ should be thoroughly instructed in the 
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and have 
an infallible directory of both faith and prac- 
tice. This may be inferred from several con- 
siderations : 

I. From the typical history of the Israelites. 
When God called His people out of Egypt, He 
gave them a perfect guide. The symbol of His 
presence went before them as a pillar of cloud 
to lead them on their journey by day, and as a 
pillar of fire to guide them by night. Had 
they faithfully followed this as their divinely- 
appointed guide, it would have led them 
safely throughout all their wanderings to the 
land of rest that was prepared for them. But 
this they were unwilling to do. They were 
not willing, to walk by faith, and preferred to 
walk by sight. And hence they rebelled 
against Moses, and set at naught the counsel 
of God. This was at first their misfortune, 
and it finally proved to be their ruin. After 
bearing with them for a long time, God at 



156 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

length swore in His wrath that they should 
never enter into His rest (Heb. iii. 7-19). 

Now these things were types; and they 
were written for our instruction (1 Cor. x. 1-12). 
They are but the shadows of the more solemn 
and impressive events and realities of our 
Christian pilgrimage. And they teach us as 
plainly as could a voice from heaven, that it 
was never God's purpose to leave His people 
without a perfect guide — a guide of His own 
creation and appointment. As the pillar of 
the cloud was to the Israelites, so is the word 
of the Lord to the followers of Christ. We 
have but to keep our eye on it, and follow with- 
out reserve wherever it may lead us, and then 
all will be well. It may conduct us, as the 
cloud did the Israelites, " through a great and 
terrible wilderness," full of dangers and full of 
snares. But no matter. If we follow it faith- 
fully, as did Joshua and Caleb the pillar of the 
cloud, it will just as certainly bring us to the 
land of rest that remains for the people of God. 
There, there is fulness of joy ; and there, there 
are pleasures for evermore. " A hope so great, 
then, and so divine, may trials well endure." 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 157 

II. This may also be proved and further il- 
lustrated by the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment. Isaiah, for instance, looking down 
through the vista of future ages, saw by the 
spirit of inspiration the glorious effects and 
influences of Christ's mediatorial reign on the 
earth. lie saw on all hands evidences of light, 
and life, and salvation. And, among other 
things, he saw the highway of holiness— a way 
that w-as so plain, and so direct, that even the 
most ignorant travellers on it were in no dan- 
ger of being lost. True, indeed, they were all 
in the midst of a thousand philosophical mys- 
teries, which even the most gifted and enlight- 
ened of their fellow-travellers were unable to 
explain. Every star in their firmament was a 
mystery, and so also was every pebble beneath 
their feet. But, nevertheless, the man that 
pressed forward, resolved by the grace of God 
to reach and enter the pearly gates of the ever- 
lasting Zion, had no difficulty in doing so. 
(See Isaiah xxxv.) 

Now, just so it is in the kingdom of Christ. 
The man who will now stop on his way to in- 
quire into all the mysteries of redemption, will 
14 



158 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

never make much progress in the divine life. 
He will hear the cry of the coming bridegroom, 
and the door will be forever shut, before he 
will be able to explain on philosophical princi- 
ples even the mysteries of man's creation and 
his fall, not to speak of the mysteries of the 
incarnation, the atonement, the new birth, the 
resurrection from the dead, and the life ever- 
lasting. On these and a thousand other mat- 
ters pertaining to man's recovery from sin and 
death, even the archangel may yet be in doubt 
and uncertainty. Such knowledge is in many 
points too high for us ; too vast and too pro- 
found for our poor, weak, and finite capacities. 
But, nevertheless, the man who receives the 
Bible as the word of God, and who humbly, 
confidingly, and prayerfully follows its instruc- 
tions, will have but little difficulty in under- 
standing his whole duty and persevering to the 
end in the way of holiness. This is just as cer- 
tain as that Isaiah spoke by the spirit of inspi- 
ration. 

III. It is still further evident from the in- 
structions of Christ to His Apostles as gwen in 
the Commission. ".Go," said He to them, "'and 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 159 

make disciples of all the nations, baptizing 
them into the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Spirit ; teaching them to 
observe all things whatever I have commanded 
youP That in this saying Christ has reference 
to all the duties of life, is obvious from the 
manner in which it was understood by the 
Apostles. In their instructions to baptized be- 
lievers, they embrace every thing which is really 
essential to a life of piety and usefulness. The 
duty of every disciple to his God, to himself, to 
his family, to the Church, to the state, and to 
the world, is marked out so fully and so va- 
riously, that it would really be difficult to con- 
ceive how any directory of moral and religious 
duty could be made more perfect and complete 
than that which is given in the IsTew Testa- 
ment. To the strictly honest and unprejudiced 
believer, who trembles at the word of the 
Lord, and whose only inquiry is, " Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do ? " there is really no 
difficulty in the way. The path of duty is as 
plainly marked out in the New Testament, as 
the way of holiness was in the vision of Isaiah, 
or as the line of march was indicated to the 



160 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

Israelites by the pillar of cloud wliicli led them 
by day, and the pillar of fire by night. 

The troubles of the way are therefore 
chiefly objects and obstacles of our own crea- 
tion ; and they are usually quite as great in the 
way of the learned as they are in the way of 
the unlearned. One man, through the vanity 
of his mind, and the pride of philosophy, or the 
prejudices of a false education, so perverts the 
Scriptures as to make them correspond with 
one theory ; another, with equal violence, makes 
them harmonize with something else; and a 
third, with still something else. And hence it 
is that when we come together to worship God, 
and to cooperate with one another for the edifi- 
cation of the Church, and the conversion of the 
world, there is often a want of harmony among 
us. One man sees every thing through the 
light and medium of Calvinism; another, 
through Arminianism ; another, through Mys- 
ticism ; and still another, through Rationalism, 
or some other conceived system of religious 
philosophy. IsTor is this all. The evil does 
not stop here. These divisions and dissensions 
lead to skepticism. In the estimation of many, 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 161 

the word of God is divested in whole or in 
part of its proper authority ; and, just so far, it 
of course ceases to be the guide of life. 

It seems to me, therefore, that a practical 
recognition of a few plain and simple rules, 
touching the authority, use, and proper appli- 
cation of the word of God as the guide of life, 
would go far to correct existing evils, and to 
restore to the Church her primitive faith and 
practice. And I therefore now, very respectful- 
ly, submit the following for the consideration of 
all who are earnestly laboring to promote the 
unity, harmony, peace, increase, and prosperity 
of Zion : * 

Rule I. — We should carefully observe, both 
in letter and in spirit, every specific precept 
which Christ has given to us either directly or 
through His inspired Apostles. To do other- 
wise is to rebel against Christ, and to act in- 
consistently with our Christian profession. God 
said to the people through Moses, "A prophet 



* For a discussion of the rules and principles of in- 
terpretation, see " Reason and Revelation" Part v., re- 
vised edition, by the author. 



162 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of 
your brethren like unto me ; him shall ye hear 
in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 
And it shall come to pass that every soul who 
will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed 
from among the people" (Acts iii. 22, 23). 
God did raise up that Prophet; and in the 
presence of Moses and Elijah, on the mount of 
transfiguration, He said to Peter, James, and 
John, and through them to all Christians, and 
even to every individual under heaven, " This 
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased : 
HEAR YE HIM " (Matt. xvii. 5). To the 
same effect is also the testimony of Jesus Him- 
self given in the Commission. " All authority," 
says He, " is given to me in heaven and on the 
earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples of 
all the nations, baptizing them into the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Spirit ; teaching them to observe all things 
whatever I have commanded you." 

"We have professed to believe all this. And 
by our baptism into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we 
have solemnly vowed that we will submit to it ; 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 163 

that henceforth the will of Christ shall be our 
will, and that His laws shall be to us the guide 
of our lives. This much we have all solemnly 
promised to do, who have put on Christ. But 
have we done it ? Have we in all cases acted 
consistently with our profession ? Have we ob- 
served in letter and in spirit every specific 
" Thus saith the Lord" that is given for our 
instruction and guidance under the "New Cove- 
nant ? Let us inquire — 

1. In Matt, xviii. 15-17, the following very 
specific directions are given to all the fol- 
lowers of Christ, respecting the treatment of 
private offences: "Moreover, if thy brother 
trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault 
between thee and him alone. If he hear thee, 
thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will 
not hear thee, then take with thee one or two 
more, that in the mouth of two or three wit- 
nesses every word may be established. And if 
he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the 
church : and if he neglect to hear the church, 
let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a 
publican." 

Nothing could be more plain and specific 



164 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

than these instructions ; nothing more authori- 
tative. But how many of the disciples of 
Christ strictly observe and follow them ? Read- 
er, what say you ? Have you strictly followed 
these plain and simple directions of the Lord 
Jesus; or have you, with the multitude, 
been led by the spirit of Antichrist ? " Why 
call ye me, Lord, Lord," says Christ to His 
disciples, " and do not the things which I say ? " 
(Luke vi. 46.) 

2. In Rom. xiii. 8, the Holy Spirit says to 
every disciple, " Owe no man any thing, but 
to love one another." How many of the pro- 
fessed followers of Christ live in harmony with 
this precept ? 

3. In 1 Cor. v. 11, we have given the fol- 
lowing specific instructions concerning the 
proper treatment of one who had been lawfully 
excluded from the Church : " But now I (Paul) 
have - written to you not to keep company — -if 
any man that is called a brother be a fornica- 
tor, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a 
drunkard, or an extortioner — with such a one, 
no not to eat." How many Christians strictly 
observe and execute this law of Christ? And 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 165 

how many nullify it by their unlawful inter- 
course and unhallowed sympathy with such 
public offenders? "Why call ye me Lord, 
Lord, and do not the things which I say ? " 

4. In Matt. v. 44, our Lord Himself says 
to all His followers : " Love your enemies. 
Bless them that curse you ; do good to them 
that hate you ; and pray for them that despite- 
fully use you and persecute you." But how 
many of them even honestly and earnestly en- 
deavor to do this? How, then, will they reply 
to our Lord's interrogatory, " Why call ye me 
Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say ? " 

I might very greatly multiply such cases. 
But the examples given are quite sufficient to 
show that the spirit of Antichrist is still abroad 
in the Church; and that thousands of those 
who profess to be the disciples of Christ, are 
still following their own lusts, and passions, 
and appetites;, with far more regularity and con- 
sistency than they are following the specific 
precepts of the Lord Jesus. " For many walk 
of whom I have told you often, and now tell 
you even weeping, that they are the enemies of 
the Cross of Christ ; whose end is destruction ; 



166 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

whose god is their belly ; and whose glory is 
their shame ; who mind earthly things." 

Eule II. — We should observe and respect^ 
as of equal authority with a positive precept, 
every Apostolic precedent illustrative of the laws 
of Christ. It is generally much easier to teach, 
especially the young and the uneducated, by 
example than by precept. And hence it has 
pleased God to illustrate the laws and princi- 
ples of the kingdom of heaven by a series of 
Apostolic acts, which serve to make them all 
so very plain that even a child may ordinarily 
understand them. Most generally the law or 
precept is itself first stated ; and then it is his- 
torically illustrated. But sometimes the law is 
indicated as well as illustrated by the practice 
of the primitive churches, under the instruc- 
tions and directions of the Apostles and the in- 
spired evangelists. 

A noted instance of this kind is the law in 
relation to the sanctification of the Lord's-day. 
This is nowhere formally stated like the law of 
the Sabbath in the Old Testament. But, in 
Acts xx. 7, we read that, " on the first day of 
the week, when, the disciples came together to 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. ±Q^ 

break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready 
to depart on the morrow ; and he continued his 
speech till midnight." From this example we 
learn that it was the custom of the brethren at 
Troas, and, of course, of all the other churches 
of the saints, to come together on the first day 
of the week to break bread, in commemoration 
of the Lord's death. For Paul arrived at Troas 
on the previous Monday, and though he was 
much pressed for time, being anxious to go up 
to Jerusalem as soon as possible, he neverthe- 
less saw fit to wait at Troas for nearly one 
week, in order that he might be present at the 
regular meeting of the brethren on the following 
LorcPs-day, having, no doubt, matters of very 
great importance to lay before them. 

The same important lesson may also be 
learned from the practice of the churches of 
Corinth and Galatia. In 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2, 
Paul says to the brethren of Corinth : " Now 
concerning the collection which is for the 
saints, as I ordered the churches of Galatia 
so also do ye. On the first day of every week, 
let each of you lay somewhat by itself, accord- 
ing as he may have prospered, putting it into 



168 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

the treasury (of the church) ; that there may- 
be no collections when I come." 

These examples show very clearly and con- 
clusively that it was the practice of the primi- 
tive churches, under the guidance and instruc- 
tion of the Apostles and Prophets, to meet on 
every first day of the week, for the celebration 
of the Lord's death and resurrection, and other 
religious purposes. And hence it follows, apart 
from every other consideration, that it is now 
the solemn duty of all Christians to sanctify 
wholly to the Lord the first day of every week. 
No positive precept could possibly add to the 
sacredness of this day, or serve in any way to 
make its sanctification a matter of more per- 
petual and binding obligation.* 

Great caution is, however, often necessary in 
applying this rule. The given example may 
not unfrequently be in some way connected 
with several laws ; some of which may be of 
binding obligation and some not. Paul, for in- 

* For a fuller discussion of this interesting question, 
see " Scheme of Redemption" book iii., part ii., chapter 
vi., by the author. 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 169 

stance, circumcised Timothy, u on account of 
the Jews who were in those quarters / for they 
all knew that his father was a Greek" (Acts 
xvi. 3). Now, to some persons it might at first 
seem as if Paul by this act intended to ratify 
and indorse, as of still binding obligation, the 
law of circumcision given in the seventeenth 
chapter of Genesis. But surely nothing else 
could be further from his purpose. For, in. 
writing to the Galatians, he says : " For in 
Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any 
thing, nor uncircumcision ; but a new creature " 
(Gal. vi. 15). And, in his letter to the Philip- 
pians, he says : " "We are the circumcision who 
worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ 
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" 
(Phil. iii. 3). And to his Roman brethren he 
says : " For he is not a Jew who is one out- 
wardly ; neither is that circumcision which is 
outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is 
one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the 
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose 
praise is not of men, but of God " (Pom. ii. 28, 
29). And finally, in his first letter to the 

church of Corinth, he says : " But as God hath 
15 



170 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

distributed to every man, as the Lord hath 
called every one, so let him walk. And so I 
ordain in all the churches. Is any man called, 
being circumcised % let him not become uneir- 
cumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision ? 
let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is 
nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the 
keeping of the commandments of God " (1 Cor. 
vii. 17-19). 

It was not then to indorse, as of still bind- 
ing obligation, the Old Covenant of circum- 
cision ; but it was " on account of the Jews 
who were in those parts, that Paul did as he 
did in this extraordinary case. It was in com- 
pliance with that general law of .Christian be- 
nevolence, which requires us to become all 
things to all men, so far as the law of Christ 
will permit, in order that we may gain their 
hearts, and save the souls of as many of them 
as we possibly can. " For," says Paul in his 
first letter to the Corinthians, "while free 
from all men, I made myself a bond-servant 
for all, that I might win the more. And to 
the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might 
win the Jews; to those under law, as under 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 171 

law (though, not myself under law), that I 
might win those under law ; to those without 
law, as without law (not being without a law 
of God, but in the bond of Christ's law), that I 
might win those without law ; to the weak, I 
became weak, that I might win the weak. To 
all men, I have become all things, that I might 
by all means save some " (1 Cor. ix. 19-23). 
The circumcision of Timothy must not there- 
fore be referred to the law of circumcision ; but 
to the law of Divine adaptation and Christian 
benevolence. 

Etjle III. — We should carefully observe 
every thing that is embraced in the general laws 
that are given to us by Christ and His Apos- 
tles y and also whatever else may follow as a 
necessary consequence from any and all their 
instructions^ whether specific or generic. 

The duties of the Christian life are very 
numerous. And hence, instead of filling many 
volumes, as He might have done, with specific 
precepts for our guidance and instruction, God 
has most wisely and benevolently embraced all 
our duties and obligations under a few general 
laws ; giving us, at the same time, such mo- 



172 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

tives, practical illustrations, and minute details, 
as He Himself in His infinite wisdom and be- 
nevolence foresaw would be necessary for the 
instruction, government, and welfare of all. 
For instance, it is nowhere directly and specifi- 
cally commanded in the Holy Scriptures, that 
a disciple of Christ shall not go to the theatre ; 
engage in the merry dance ; play at cards ; at- 
tend the horse-race, the circus, and other such 
places of vain and licentious amusements. 
And hence many seem to regard it as their 
right and privilege to engage, ad libitum, in all 
such demoralizing and irreligious practices. 

But let us test this matter a little further. 
In 1 Cor. x. 31, Paul, speaking by the Holy 
Spirit, says : " Whether therefore ye eat or 
drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of 
God." It is manifest, therefore, that the dis- 
ciples of Christ are all forbidden to engage in 
any thing whatever which has not for its object 
the glory of God. But did any one ever glo- 
rify God by playing at cards ; participating in 
the licentious dance; patronizing the theatre; 
or encouraging the horse-race, the circus, or 
any other like worldly, profane, or irreligious 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 173 

amusements ? I think not. "What think you, 
courteous reader ? 

Or let us test, if you please, all such mat- 
ters by another law of Christ. In Phil. iv. 
8, the same Apostle commands and exhorts 
his brethren as follows : " Finally, brethren," 
says he, " whatever things are true, whatever 
things are honorable, whatever things are just, 
whatever things are pure, whatever things are 
lovely, whatever things are of good report — if 
there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, 
think on these things." Now, will any one 
who really loves the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
who is honestly and prayerfully trying to serve 
Him — will any such person affirm that dan- 
cing, theatre-going, card-playing, horse-racing, 
etc., are things that are pure and honorable ? 
Does any one maintain that they are of good 
report ? If they are not, then, indeed, they are 
as positively forbidden as is the sin of drunken- 
ness, murder, theft, or any other vice. They 
are forbidden by Him to whom has been com- 
mitted all mithority in heaven and on the 
earth; and who has Himself assured us that 
even every " idle word" will be brought into 



174 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

the final reckoning on the day of judgment 
(Matt. xii. 36). 

Take another example. Take, if you please, 
the duty of family worship. Many parents ut- 
terly neglect this ; and some of them, at least, 
profess to do so because, as they allege, it is 
nowhere positively commanded in the Holy 
Scriptures. But does not Paul say in Ephe- 
sians vi. 4, " Fathers, provoke not your chil- 
dren to wrath, but bring them up in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord ? " And did 
any parent ever do this as it should be done, 
without calling his children together, at least 
every morning and evening, for the purpose of 
instructing them in the Holy Scriptures, and 
praying with them and for them? I presume 
not. And I presume, moreover, that to fulfil 
all the duties and obligations of this very 
broad and comprehensive precept, without 
these daily instructions and devotional exer- 
cises, is practically impossible. And, if so, 
then it follows that the precept, " Bring up 
your children in the nurture and admoni- 
tion of the Lord," embraces family worship 
just as certainly as that thousands embrace 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 175 

hundreds, and that hundreds include tens and 
units. 

But the main trouble in all such cases is 
not owing so much to a want of intellectual as 
it is to a want of spiritual discernment. It is 
hard to make a blind man see and comprehend 
the infinite shades and varieties of color that 
abound everywhere in the heavens above us 
and in the earth beneath us. It is hard to make 
a deaf man perceive and enjoy even the sweet- 
est sounds that ever enchanted the ears of mor- 
tals. And just so it is immeasurably difficult 
to make a spirit that is not largely endowed 
and enamoured with the beauty o'f holiness, 
perceive and comprehend the great moral des- 
titution of the prayerless family, and the infi- 
nite loathsomeness of the drinking-saloon, the 
card-table, the ballroom, and the race-field. 
God never intended to govern His people, like 
so many slaves, by mere positive and compul- 
sory enactments. He likes a willing service. 
And hence He has filled the Bible, and espe- 
cially the IsTew Testament, with motives high 
as heaven, deep as hell, and enduring as eter- 
nity. He draws us "with cords of love as 



176 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

with the bands of a man." The man whose 
whole heart is fall of this divine principle, and 
who, like Sanl of Tarsus, simply inquires, 
" Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? " — such 
a man does not stand in need of very many di- 
rect and positive precepts. For all such hum- 
ble, honest, and penitent inquirers, the Bible 
contains within itself a perfect code of laws, 
embracing all the instructions that are really 
necessary to a life of godliness. 

Rule TV. — We may adopt whatever subor- 
dinate rides and regulations are really neces- 
sary in order to the full and perfect discharge 
of all our Christian duties and obligations / 
provided, however, that these shall in no case be 
inconsistent with the instructions given to us by 
Christ and His Apostles. A few such rules 
might be of much service to every Christian in 
the daily discipline of his own heart, as well as 
in the practical results of his own life ; and 
they are often absolutely necessary in the 
more comprehensive and complicated workings 
of the body of Christ. It is required, for in- 
stance, that in all the labors of the Church, for 
her own edification, as well as for the salvation 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 177 

of the world, " all things shall be done decent- 
ly and in order " (1 Cor. xiv. 40). And, for 
this purpose, Christ has Himself, through His 
Apostles, given to us much practical instruc- 
tion ; and, especially, has He ordained that 
men of rare qualifications shall be chosen and 
appointed to act as shepherds of the flock. 
But, in order to do this properly, it is necessary 
that these men should appoint their own chair- 
man and secretary ; that they should hold reg- 
ular meetings of their own body, for the pur- 
pose of hearing reports, and consulting about 
all matters pertaining to the interests of the 
Church ; that they should, after due conference 
with the members, determine when and where 
the Church should meet for public and social 
worship, and also what should be the order of 
all such meetings ; that they should take into 
consideration the organization and interests of 
the Sunday-school ; and, in a word, that they 
should so divide the labors of the Church 
among themselves and the several members 
that all may be usefully employed in some 
way, and that all the interests of the Church 
may be properly cared for. 



178 THE GBEAT COMMISSION. 

But in all these matters, and a great many- 
other practical details, we must be guided 
largely, under the general directions and in- 
structions of the Apostles, by our own sense of 
duty and propriety. If it be thought best, for 
instance, that all the male members shall oc- 
cupy one side of the house, and the females the 
other, it may be perfectly right, and consistent 
with the law of Christ, that they should do so. 
Or if, after due conference, it should be thought 
best that all the members of the same family 
should sit together, this also may be right and 
legitimate. But, if any congregation should, 
by a vote of her elders, or members, ordain 
that certain pews shall be occupied only by 
those who can dress in silk or satin, and who 
will agree to pay a large stipend for the privi- 
lege of occupying an aristocratic position in 
the assembly of the saints, this would be un- 
lawful. Christ recognizes and authorizes no 
such rights and privileges among His followers. 
His law is, In honor prefer others to yourselves. 
Make the slave feel that, in the Church of 
Christ, he is the Lord's freeman ; and make the 
freeman feel that he is the Lord's bondman. 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 179 

(See Luke xiv. 7-11 ; Eom. xii. 10, and 1 Cor. 
vii. 21-23.) 

The same liberty of choice is also given to 
the Church in reference to her missionary la- 
bors. It is made her solemn and imperative 
duty to make disciples of all the nations ; and 
to baptize them into the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. But 
many of the practical details of this work are, 
of necessity, left to the wisdom and discretion 
of her own members. If any disciple, who, -in 
the judgment of his brethren, is qualified to 
preach the Gospel, sees fit to become a mis- 
sionary at his own expense, and to devote his 
life to the work of saving the heathen, it is 
certainly his privilege to do so. " Let him that 
heareth say, Come," is the second and last 
great Commission of our blessed Lord to every 
one of His true and faithful disciples. Or, if 
any disciple is not himself qualified to preach, 
but is able and willing, at his own cost, to send 
out and sustain a faithful missionary in some 
dark and destitute region, it is also his right 
and privilege to do so ; and he will just as cer- 
tainly receive his reward as if he had gone in 



180 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

his own proper person. Or, if any one con- 
gregation of disciples see fit to cooperate in this 
work, and to send out one or more missionaries 
to destitute regions, they have certainly the 
right to do so, on the same principle that they 
have a right to cooperate in feeding the hungry, 
clothing the naked, or any other good work ; 
and they can, moreover, plead the example of 
the Church of Jerusalem, and also of the 
Church of Antioch. (See Acts xi. 22-24 ; and 
xiii. 1-3.) Or, if one congregation is not able 
to do this, then two or three may on the same 
principle unite and cooperate in sending out as 
many missionaries as they choose. Or, if the 
work is too great for a given district, and a 
more general and systematic effort is deemed 
necessary, then, also, on the same principle, the 
churches of a whole State, nation, or continent, 
may unite for its accomplishment. They may, 
through their messengers, hold their annual or 
their semi-annual meetings, appoint all necessary 
agents, and make any arrangements consistent 
with the law of Christ that they may deem 
necessary in order to the accomplishment of 
their object. But in no case have they a right 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 181 

to make any rules and regulations that are in- 
consistent with the laws of Christ. Such a so- 
ciety or association of brethren is, in fact, 
nothing more nor less than the Church herself 
acting through her own chosen representatives. 
But the Church is, of course, subject to every 
law and ordinance of Christ, and so also are 
her representatives. If she has no right to 
adopt a money basis of membership, neither 
have her representatives a right to do so. But 
they may, like the elders of a church, choose 
their own officers, adopt their own by-laws, and 
do any thing else, not inconsistent with the laws 
of Christ, that they may think necessary in or- 
der to the speedy and efficient accomplishment 
of their work. 

Rule Y. — We should tolerate in one anoth- 
er, as Christian hrethren, and as sister congrega- 
tions, any opinion or practice which is not in 
itself, or in its tendencies, in conflict with t/w 
law of Christ. " Where God speaks we should 
speak, and where God is silent we should be 
silent." "We cannot be too particular in re- 
specting, teaching, and enforcing whatever 

Christ has enjoined upon us. The laws of the 
16 



182 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

kingdom of heaven are, during Christ's media- 
torial reign, just as inflexible and immutable as 
the laws of Nature. "While He sits on the 
throne of His glory, not one jot or tittle can be 
innocently added to them or taken from them. 
Indeed, I cannot conceive of any thing that is 
more daringly presumptuous on the part of any 
erring mortal, than to presume to change or set 
aside in any way the decrees of Omnipotence. 
To do this, is to brand upon ourselves, in plain 
and unmistakable characters, one of the lead- 
ing characteristics of the " man of sin." (See 
Dan. vii. 25; 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4; 1 Tim. iv.1-3.) 
And hence we can never countenance or sanc- 
tion in any way infant baptism, for several rea- 
sons : 

1. Because the man who stands up before 
heaven and earth, and says to the infant, " By 
the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, I bap- 
tize thee into the name of the Father, and of 
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," says simply 
what is not true. Christ has given no such au- 
thority to any living man. "Add thou not to 
His words (then) lest He reprove thee, and 
'thou be found a liar " (Prov. xxx. 6). 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 183 

2. Because the tendency of the practice is 
to deceive the people, and to set aside one of 
the most solemn and impressive ordinances of 
God. Of the truth of this, the history of the 
Church, for the last fifteen hundred years, fur- 
nishes abundant evidence. 

3. Because the license assumed in this par- 
ticular case is well calculated to beget and fos- 
ter in the public mind a latitudinarian spirit 
with regard to all the laws and ordinances of 
God. Its legitimate fruits are very plainly 
seen in some of the extreme issues of what is 
now in popular parlance called " liberal 
Christianity" than which nothing can be of 
more dangerous tendency.* 

* The tendency of the human mind to run from one 
extreme into another is really amazing. Peter could 
honestly say to his Master, " Though I should die with 
thee, yet will I not deny thee." He was in the main a 
true man ; and, on this occasion, he no doubt meant just 
what he said. For, when Judas appeared with a band 
of soldiers to take Jesus, Peter was the first to draw the 
sword. And, had it been necessary, he would have died 
on the spot for his Master. But when Jesus said to him, 
"Put up thy sword into its sheath," he could not under- 



184 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

And the same objections may, in the main, 
be urged against substituting sprinkling, or 
pouring, for immersion ; against creating and 
ordaining in the Church an order of bishops, 
separate and distinct from the elders ; and also 
against sundry other practices and innovations 
which are wholly at variance with the word of 
God, and the uniform practice of the primitive 
churches. 

But beyond this clearly-defined and conse- 

stand it. This was a lesson which he had not yet 
learned, and which, in the then carnal state of his mind, 
he was utterly incapable of comprehending. And hence 
we next find him on the opposite extreme, cursing and 
swearing that he did not even know Jesus. 

And just so it is with many in our own day. One 
man is ready and willing, if need be, to fight for even 
the conceived mint, and anise, and cummin, of the Chris- 
tian religion ; provided only, that he be allowed to use, 
like Peter, his own carnal weapons. But if this is not 
permitted, he will, in all probability, run to the opposite 
extreme, and engage in the zealous advocacy of what he 
is pleased to call " liberal Christianity" which, by- 
the-way, is in some respects about as far from the " gold- 
en mean " of pure and primitive Christianity as were 
the vulgar oaths of the profane and licentious Peter. 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 185 

crated ground, the limits of which must always 
be held sacred, and of which we cannot and 
dare not yield even a hair's breadth, there is a 
wide field over which the followers of Christ 
are allowed to range and ramble almost ad libi- 
tum. Or, to speak more literally, there is a 
large chapter of things which are, in them- 
selves, wholly indifferent, and concerning 
which Christ has ordained as follows : " Let 
every man he fully persuaded in his otun 
mind;" only, " take heed that this liberty of 
yours does not become a stumbling-block in the 
way of others" (See Eom. xiv.-xv. 13.) 

This law is well illustrated in the life and 
teachings of the Apostle Paul. "Whenever 
there was danger of so using even those things 
which are in themselves wholly indifferent, as 
to nullify a law of Christ, or to set aside any 
thing pertaining to the Christian religion, then 
no one could be more decided and uncompro- 
mising in his opposition to them. He who cir- 
cumcised Timothy in order to make him a more 
acceptable Evangelist to his Jewish brethren, 
was constrained under different circumstances 
to say to the Galatians, " If ye be circumcised, 



186 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

Christ shall profit you nothing " (Gal. v. 2). 
He saw that, in this case, there was danger of 
a real and most ruinous innovation. He saw 
that, through the influence of false teachers, the 
brethren of Galatia were in imminent danger 
of neglecting the Gospel, and trusting for sal- 
vation in the laws and institutions of Moses. 
And hence he was constrained, as an Apostle of 
Christ, to " stand like an anvil " between them 
and error. 

But, whenever there was no such danger 
of compromising in any way a law or an ordi- 
nance of Christ, then, indeed, no one could go 
further than he in yielding to the prejudices of 
both Jews and Gentiles. He would shave his 
head at Cenchrea, offer sacrifices at Jerusalem, 
and keep the Sabbath in all places, rather than 
in any way retard the progress of the Gospel 
by offending against the prejudices of his Jew- 
ish brethren. 

I am aware that good men and able critics 
entertain different views with regard to Paul's 
motives and purposes in observing the rites and 
ceremonies of the Law; and, especially, in 
taking upon himself the vow of the Kazarite, 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 187 

involving, as it did, the offering of animal sac- 
rifices, etc. (See Numb. vi. 1-21 ; and Acts 
xxi. 17-26.) 

1. Some maintain that Paul did this in ig- 
norance, not knowing that the law of Moses 
including the rite of sacrifice, the covenant of 
the priesthood, etc., had then been abolished. 

2. Others are of the opinion that, in at 
least the case given in Acts xxi. 17-26, Paul 
acted from the fear of his Jewish brethren, just 
as Peter had once done at Antioch. (See Gal; 
ii. 11-13.) 

3. But the majority of critics concur in the 
view that, in this case, Paul acted neither from 
ignorance nor from dissimulation, but that he 
did as he did, simply in conformity with that 
law of Christian benevolence which requires us 
to respect even the weaknesses and prejudices 
of our brethren, so far as we can do so without 
in any way setting aside or compromising the 
requirements of the Gospel. 

These three hypotheses are, I think, exhaust- 
ive of the whole matter. At all events, they 
seem to embrace every thing relating to this 
case, which is at all worthy of our considera- 



188 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

tion. And, as the question before us is one of 
very great practical importance, it may be well 
to consider it carefully. Let us then examine, 
as briefly as we can, each of these hypotheses 
in order. And — ■ 

1. Did Paul act from ignorance in this case, 
or did he not ?. Did he know that the ordi- 
nances of legal purification, shaving the head, 
killing and offering animal sacrifices, etc., were 
all abolished at this time ; or did he regard them 
as of still binding obligation on himself and 
his Jewish brethren ? 

That he knew soon after this that they were 
abolished, must, I think, be admitted by all. 
For, in a. d. 62, he said to the Colossians : " And 
you, being dead in your sins and the uncircum- 
cision of your flesh, hath He quickened together 
with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses ;. 
Wotting out the handwriting of ordinances that 
was against us, lohich icas contrary to us, and 
took it out of the way, nailing it to His woss. 
And having spoiled principalities and powers, 
He made a show of them openly, triumphing 
over them in it. Let no man therefore judge 
you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holy 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 189 

day, or of tlie new moon, or of the Sabbath- 
days, which are a shadow of things to come, 
but the body is of Christ " (Col. ii. 13-17). 
And, about a. d. 63, he, or some one of his col- 
leagues in the work of the ministry, wrote to 
his Hebrew brethren as follows : " For the Law, 
having a shadow of good things to come, and 
not the very image of the things, can never 
with those sacrifices which they offer year by 
year continually make the comers thereunto 
perfect. For then would they riot have ceased 
to be offered? Because that the worshippers 
once purged should have no more consciousness 
of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a re- 
membrance again made of sins every year 
For it is not possible that the Wood of lulls and 
of goats, should take away sms. Wherefore, 
when he cometh into the world he saith, Sacri- 
fice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body 
hast thou prepared me. In burnt-offerings 
and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 
Then said I, Lo, I come ; in the volume of the 
book it is written of me, to do Thy will, O 
God. Above, when he saith, sacrifice, and 
offering, and burnt-offerings, and offerings for 



190 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

sin, thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure 
therein, which are offered by the Law ; then 
said he, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. 
He taketh away the first will that He may es- 
tablish the second. By the which will we are 
sanctified through the offering of the body of 
Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest 
standeth daily ministering and offering often- 
times the same sacrifice which can never take 
away sins ; but this man, after he had offered 
one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the 
right hand of God, from thenceforth expecting 
till His enemies be made His footstool. For by 
one offering He has perfected forever them that 
are sanctified " (Heb. x. 1-14). 

It is plain, therefore, that when Paul wrote 
his letters to the Colossians and the Hebrews, 
in a. d. 62 and 63, he knew that the entire 
Law of Moses had, as a typical and religious 
institution, been nailed to the cross of Christ, 
and that it was henceforth no longer religiously 
binding on any one. But did he know this in 
a. d. 58, when he came up to Jerusalem to 
attend the feast of Pentecost (Acts xx. 16), 
and to brins; alms to his suffering Hebrew 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 191 

brethren ? Compare Acts xxi. 27 ; and xxiv. 
17, 18. 

I think he did : 

(1.) Because a knowledge of this was, from 
the beginning of the kingdom of heaven, essen- 
tial to both the right proclamation and obedience 
of the Gospel. From the opening of the king- 
dom, on the day of Pentecost, a. d. 34, and on- 
ward, Jesus Christ was proclaimed to the peo- 
ple as the only Saviour ; as the way, the truth, 
the resurrection, and the life. There was no 
attempt made by the Apostles and Prophets to 
compromise between Judaism and Christianity 
as religious institutions; as means of procuring 
pardon, justification, sanctification, and re- 
demption. That the Law was still necessary to 
the Jews as a civil institution, and that it 
served also in some respects to promote their 
social and even their religious enjoyment, is, 
of course, conceded. But that any Christian 
could ever consistently trust for salvation partly 
in the blood of bulls and of goats, and partly 
in the blood of Christ, seems to me to be quite 
impossible. If this were a fatal error when 
Paul wrote his letter to the Plebrews, in a. d. 



192 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

63, was it any less so in a. d. 53, or 43, or at 
tlie beginning of tlie kingdom ? And can we 
therefore doubt that the Epistle to the Hebrews 
is in perfect harmony with all the instruction 
given by the Apostles to their Hebrew breth- 
ren, even from the commencement of the 
Christian Church ? I freely admit that there 
was in some respects a gradual development of 
Gospel truth. But, with respect to the ground 
of man's justification before God, there was 
certainly no room left for doubt or vacillation. 
It was Christ crucified that was offered to the 
people as their only Saviour in Jerusalem, in 
Samaria, in Corinth, in Rome, and in the utter- 
most parts of the earth. 

(2.) Because, in his Epistle to the Romans, 
written at Corinth, in the heginning of the 
same year, a. d. 58, and, of course, hut a very 
short time before his interview with James and 
the elders at Jerusalem, Paul teaches, not only 
the utter impossibility of any one's being justi- 
fied or sanctified by the Law of Moses, but he 
goes even further, and declares in the most ex- 
plicit terms that the Law was abolished, and 
that the Hebrew Christians had been released 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 193 

from all obligation to it as a religious institu- 
tion, in order that they might bring forth fruit 
unto God, and attain to that holiness of heart, 
and purity of life, through the Gospel, which 
they had found to be wholly unattainable 
through the Law. " Know ye not, brethren," 
says he (" for I speak to them that know the 
Law), that the Law has dominion over a man 
as long as he liveth ? For the woman who hath 
a husband is bound by the Law to her husband 
so long as he liveth; but if the husband be 
dead, she is loosed from the law of the hus- 
band. So, then, if, while her husband liveth 
she be married to another man, she shall be 
called an adulteress. But if her husband be 
dead, she is freed from that law, so that she is 
no adulteress, though she be married to another 
man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are be- 
come dead to the Law by the body of Christ, 
that ye should be married to another, even to 
Him who is raised from the dead, that ye 
should bring forth fruit unto God. For when 
we were in the flesh, the emotions of sin which 
were by the Law, did work in our members to 

bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are 
17 



194 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

delivered from the Law^ that being dead where- 
in we were held, that we should serve in new- 
ness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the 
letter " (Rom. vii. 1-6). 

Here, it seems to me, there is no room left 
for doubt in relation to the whole matter. 
Paul in this passage declares by the Spirit, in 
the most unequivocal terms, that he and his 
Hebrew brethren had all died to the Law and 
been married to Christ, in order that they might 
bring forth fruit unto God. 

I know that it is alleged by some, for whose 
opinions in religious matters I have very great 
respect, that Paul is here speaking of the Law 
in general ; but that, in making this declaration, 
he has no reference to bloody sacrifices, or at 
least that he himself did not so understand his 
own language, whatever may have been the in- 
tention and mind of the Spirit. 

But why make animal sacrifices an excep- 
tion in this broad and emphatic declaration of 
the Apostle ? Is there in this epistle, or else- 
where, the shadow of evidence to support such 
an allegation ? Why not except with equal 
propriety the offering of incense ? the diverse 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 195 

washings ? the annual festivals ? or in fact any 
other element of the Mosaic economy? The 
fact is, that the law of sacrifice is so fully 
blended with all the other rites and ceremonies 
of the Law, that they must all stand or fall 
together. And so Paul evidently understood 
the matter in his Epistle to the Romans, as well 
as in his Epistle to the Hebrews. The great 
contrast between the sacrifices of the Law and 
the sacrifice of Christ, constitutes, in many 
cases, the main point of his argument in the 
former as well as in the latter. This will ap- 
pear from the following example : " For what 
the Law (with all its bloody rites and sacrifices) 
could not do, in that it was weak through the 
flesh, God (has done by) sending His own Son 
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and by an offer- 
ing for sin has condemned sin in the flesh, that 
the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled 
in us who walk not after the flesh but .after the 
Spirit " (Rom. viii. 3, 4). 

To this evidence we might add also the 
testimony of Paul given in his letter to the 
Galatians. This was written certainly not 
later than his Epistle to the Romans, about the 



196 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

beginning of the year a. d. 58, and perhaps 
even as early as a. p. 55. In the third and 
fourth chapters, particularly, he speaks in the 
most explicit, terms of the abolition of the Law, 
and of the superior advantages and privileges 
of the New Economy. He says, for instance, 
that, on account of transgression, the Law was 
added to the promise made to Abraham con- 
cerning Christ, " till the Seed should come / " 
and that it served as a schoolmaster to bring 
us to Christ. But now, since Christ has Him- 
self come, he avers that "we are no longer 
under the schoolmaster" 

But it is quite unnecessary to multiply wit- 
nesses. The evidence given is, I think, quite 
sufficient to prove that both Paul and James, 
in the case referred to, acted with a full knowl- 
edge of the fact that the Law of Moses, in- 
cluding the law of the Nazarite, the priest- 
hood, animal sacrifices, etc., had been previous- 
ly abrogated; and consequently that the first 
hypothesis is wholly untenable. 

2. How is it then with the second hypothe- 
sis ? Is there any evidence that in this case 
Paul acted hypocritically or deceptively from 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 197 

the fear of his Jewish brethren ? Surely not. 
For— 

(1.) Such a course would he wholly incon- 
sistent with his general character and manner 
of life^ both as a Jew and as a Christian. A 
man who dared to face even the wild beasts at 
Ephesus ; to encounter the barbarous persecu- 
tions of the heathen ; and to stand unmoved 
and undaunted even in the presence of the 
bloody Nero and his licentious court — such a 
man was not likely to be much alarmed by the 
report that many of his Jewish brethren were 
dissatisfied with his teachings in reference to 
the Law of Moses. He had come to Jerusalem 
to die for the Lord Jesus, if it were necessary 
for him to do so. (See Acts xx. 22-24, and 
xxi. 10-14.) 

(2.) The hypothesis is wholly inconsistent 
icith the known facts of the case. It is evi- 
dent, from the testimony given by Luke, that 
in this case Paul acted in compliance with the 
delflberate advice given by the Apostle James 
and the Elders of the Church at Jerusalem, 
many of whom were no doubt inspired men, 
and were of course well qualified to give ad- 



198 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

vice on any and all matters pertaining to the 
purity and harmony of the Church. These 
men were well aware that many slanderous 
reports had been circulated against Paul, not 
only to his own prejudice as a man and a 
preacher of the Gospel, but also greatly to the 
injury of the Church ; and, as guardians of the 
interests of Christ's kingdom, they were anx- 
ious that these false reports should be correct- 
ed. They saw at once, under the influence of 
the Holy Spirit, the very best way and means 
of doing this, so far as it could be effected un- 
der existing circumstances. The advice was 
deliberately given by James and the Elders, 
and it was just as deliberately accepted by 
Paul ; so that from the whole narrative there 
is not the slightest evidence that Paul had any 
fear on the occasion, or that it was his purpose 
to make a false impression on any one. His 
object was simply to correct what was false, 
and to comply with the known customs and 
prejudices of his countrymen, as far as the law 
of Christ would permit, but no further. 

(3.) This hypothesis is also inconsistent with 
the promised aid of the Holy Spirit, which 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 199 

was given to the Apostles for the special pur- 
pose of enabling them to be faithful witnesses, 
faithful advisers, faithful lawgivers, and faithful 
servants of the Church of Christ. If this brief 
chapter of sacred history was not written for 
our instruction and guidance, then, I ask, What 
portion of the 'New Testament was written for 
this purpose ? If the advice of James and his 
inspired colleagues is to be set at naught in 
this case, then what is to become of their ad- 
vice in any other case ? And, if Paul erred in 
this instance, then who shall say in what other 
instance he did not err ? Concede that Paul, 
and James, and the Elders of the Church at 
Jerusalem, erred in this instance through igno- 
rance, fear, prejudice, or any other cause, and 
there is an end of all Apostolic authority ; then 
the New Testament becomes to us of about as 
much value as the writings of Plato, Seneca, 
or Aristotle ! 

But this is, of course, only a " reductio ad 
absurdum" or a demonstration of the fact that 
both the first and second given hypotheses lead 
to an absurdity. The promises of Christ to 
His Apostles were all "Yea and amen? It 



200 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

was the Holy Spirit, acting through, the Apos- 
tles, that suggested every precept, every word 
of advice, and every practical illustration, that 
is recorded in the New Testament for our in- 
struction. And hence we are constrained to 
conclude that the third given hypothesis is the 
correct one, and that the conduct of Paul in 
this case is but an illustration of that general 
law of Christian benevolence and Divine adap- 
tation which requires us to yield, within cer- 
tain limits, to the customs and prejudices of all 
men, and to do good to all as we have oppor- 
tunity. 

It seems to me, therefore, that the right un- 
derstanding and application of this general law 
of Christian benevolence and propriety would 
go far to correct many existing evils. It is not 
true that "we cannot lawfully do any thing 
as Christians which is not specifically com- 
manded and required in the New Testament." 
Nor is it true, on the other hand, that " we may 
do any thing which is not specifically forbid- 
den." These are the extremes to which the 
erring spirit of man is ever vibrating ; but the 
Spirit of God teaches us a very different lesson. 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 201 

It teaches us, indeed, that every Christian is 
subject to the law of Christ in all places and 
under all circumstances ; that he cannot think, 
or speak, or act, in the closet, in the family, in 
the Church, in the state, or in any part of the 
wide world, without being amenable to the 
laws of his Divine Sovereign. But, then, it 
further teaches us that many of these laws are 
generic, and that, in applying them, we should 
often look to the effects and consequences of 
our actions. The same principle of gravity 
that causes the mercury to sink in the jar, 
makes it rise in the barometer. And just so 
it often is in Christian ethics. The same prin- 
ciple of right or benevolence w r hich requires of 
us a certain act under one train of circum- 
stances, not unfrequently forbids our doing the 
very same thing under different circumstances. 
Had Paul been among his Gentile brethren in 
the city of Home, Corinth, or Ephesus, he 
would not have done as he did among his He- 
brew brethren in Jerusalem. 

If a congregation of Christians should 
think proper, during a protracted meeting, to 
invite penitent backsliders to come forward to 



202 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

confess their sins and to be prayed for, at what 
they may see fit to call a mourners' bench, a 
backsliders' bench, or any thing else, I do not 
think that in so doing they would of necessity 
violate any law of Christ* These delinquents, 

* I trust that no one will infer, from this, that I am 
in favor of introducing novelties of even the most harm- 
less and inoffensive kind into the Church of Christ. It 
is well to adhere strictly, as far as possible, to the beau- 
tiful simplicity of the primitive Church in all our acts of 
public and social worship. For, even in matters which 
are in themselves wholly indifferent, there may be, owing 
to circumstances, a tendency to evil. It is, for instance, 
the privilege of any congregation of disciples to set 
apart occasionally a day for special prayer and thanks- 
giving to God. But, nevertheless, we may so multiply 
and pervert such seasons of festivity and devotion as to 
cast a shadow over Christianity itself, and so draw away 
the minds and hearts of many from the spirituality 
and simplicity of all acceptable worship. This tendency 
was manifest in the churches of Galatia even in Paul's 
time, u Ye observe days and months," says he, "and 
times and years. I am afraid, of you, lest I have be- 
stowed on you labor in vain" (Gal. iv. 10, 11). This 
evil has been developed in the Koman Catholic Church, 
to a most alarming extent ; so much so, indeed, that the 
simplicity of the Gospel is completely overshadowed by 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 203 

having once put on Christ by faith, repentance, 
confession, and baptism, no longer stand to the 
Church in the exact attitude and relation of 
aliens. It is right and proper that they should 
confess their sins, pray for their forgiveness, 
and ask others also to pray for them. And 
this may, of course, be done at a backsliders' 
bench, or at any other bench or place that the 

the multiplied and imposing ceremonies of Papal inno- 
vations. 

I do not, therefore, like to see any unnecessary novel- 
ties, however harmless they may be in themselves, in- 
troduced into the house of God. And hence I would 
prefer that neither tuning-forks nor music-books should 
be used in our worshipping assemblies. The natural 
tendency of all such helps is, I think, to distract the 
minds of the singers somewhat from the sentiment of 
the psalm or hymn, and, of course, to interfere in some 
degree with the melody of the heart, without which the 
most perfect music is but as sounding brass or a tinkling 
cymbal. But, nevertheless, I am inclined to think that, 
according to our fifth rule, we should tolerate in our 
churches the use of tuning-forks, music-books, and 
many other things equally harmless, rather than, by our 
obstinate opposition to them, mar the peace and har- 
mony of the brethren. 



204 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

Elders of the Church may see fit to designate. 
But the case is very different when aliens are 
invited to such a bench to obtain pardon, sim- 
ply through the influence of their own prayers 
and the prayers of the congregation. This is 
to set at naught some of the plainest and most 
direct instructions of the Holy Spirit ; for to 
all who gladly receive its teachings it says, as 
it did to the inquiring Pentecostal converts : 
" Repent and he baptized, every one of you, 
in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission 
of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Spirit " (Acts ii. 38). 

Under the Old Economy, instrumental mu- 
sic was, by Divine authority, made an element 
of public and social worship. " Praise God," 
says the inspired Psalmist, "with stringed in- 
struments and organs ; praise Him on the loud 
cymbals." And hence it is evident that there 
is really nothing wrong in the " divine art " 
of instrumental music. 

But is it now proper to use the organ, the 
harp, or the cymbal, in the Church of Christ ? 
If so, under what law of the kingdom may it 
be introduced? We are commanded to ad- 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 205 

monish one another in psalms, hymns, and 
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in 
our hearts to the Lord (Eph. v. 19 and Col. iii. 
16). And this, of course, implies that it is 
right and proper to use whatever means may 
be really necessary, in order that we may thus 
praise and magnify God in our devotions. It 
requires, for instance, that we shall sing vocally 
as well as spiritually / that we shall all, as far 
as we can, make melody with our lips as 
well as in our hearts : for there can be no 
doubt that the emotions of the heart depend 
very much on the utterances of the voice. 

But have the tones of the organ a similar 
effect ? Do they serve to cultivate the heart, 
and to excite within us emotions of gratitude 
and love, as do our own vocal utterances ? So 
it is alleged by many. They argue that the 
organ assists the voice, and that their combined 
influence serves very greatly to excite in the 
heart that purely spiritual melody which is in 
the sight of God of great price. This, I am 
inclined to think, is, after all that has been 
said on the subject, the most pointed and plau- 
sible argument that has yet been urged in favor 
18 



206 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

of having instrumental music in our Churches. 
But is it a valid argument? Is it a fact 
that the use of the organ does so influence the 
heart and the affections ? In some cases it 
may be so ; but that the general tendency of 
instrumental music is to quench the influence 
of the Spirit in the heart, and to promote in 
the Churches a cold, barren, and lifeless for- 
malism, has, I think, been historically demon- 
strated ; for, otherwise, how shall we account 
for the fact that, wherever the organ is used, 
there, there is at least manifested a constant 
tendency to give up congregational singing? 
The command to sing and make melody in 
your hearts to the Lord, is addressed to every 
disciple of the Lord Jesus ; and whatever, 
therefore, interferes with the general participa- 
tion of the whole congregation in this part of 
social worship, is manifestly inconsistent with 
an ordinance of Christ. 

This, then, it seems to me, is one valid rea- 
son against the use of instrumental music in 
the Church of Christ; and another is, that 
many, very many of the most intelligent, pious, 
and consistent followers of Christ are opposed 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 207 

to it. Its tendency in most cases is certainly 
to alienate the hearts of God's people from one 
another, and to promote strife and division, as 
well as a spirit of worldliness, among the fol- 
lowers of the Lord Jesus ; and hence I do not 
see how any Christian can consistently favor 
the use of the organ, or any other instrument, 
in the congregation of the saints; and if all 
the disciples of Christ were as well instructed 
and as pious as they should be, I do not think 
that instrumental music would ever be used 
in public worship. 

But, just here is the trouble. K"one of us 
are yet perfect ; and hence it must, of neces- 
sity, be that offences will come. The organ 
has been introduced into some Church es 5 and 
the probability is, that it will also be intro- 
duced into many others. "What, then, shall be 
done ? Should we divide the Church on this 
account? ■ Should we violently rend into pieces 
the body of Christ, simply because a majority 
of its members are in favor of using an organ ? 
I think not. It is no small matter to divide 
the body of Christ. And we had better take 
care, lest, in our opposition to organs, we should 



208 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

be found to even out-Herod Herod himself. 
Let us endeavor to overcome evil with good. 
And while we humbly and earnestly protest 
against every evil in the Church, and do what 
we can consistently to remove it, let us, at the 
same time, see to it that all things are done in 
love ; and so let us fulfil the law of Christ. 
For, remember, dear brethren, that " the end 
of the commandment is love, out of a pure 
heart, and a good conscience, and faith un- 
feigned" 

We have thus very briefly noticed a few of 
the many things in which we have been in- 
structed by the Apostles of our Lord and Sav- 
iour ; and also some of the rules by which we 
should be governed in all our endeavors to 
make the Word of God the guide of our lives. 
It would, of course, be both interesting and 
profitable to go more into detail, if our time 
and prescribed limits would permit. But I 
trust that enough has already been said to con- 
vince every candid reader — - 

1. That the New Testament tears on its 
face the seal of infinite wisdom, and of al- 
mighty authority. 'No other book in all the 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 209 

libraries of eartli will compare with it in its 
adaptations to the capacities, wants, and cir- 
cumstances of all ranks and classes of man- 
kind. It is, indeed, " a little book ; " but, 
nevertheless, it contains within itself " all 
things pertaining to life and godliness." It 
gives us all the instruction that is really neces- 
sary respecting our duty to God, to ourselves, 
to our families, to the Church, to the state, and 
to the world. And, in a word, it is a practical 
demonstration of the fact that all authority in 
heaven and on the earth is given to its Divine 
Author. 

2. That it is awfully dangerous and pre- 
sumptuous on the part of fallible men to tam- 
per and trifle with the Word of God ; or to so 
change or modify any of its precepts and ordi- 
nances^ as to better suit their own imperfect 
sense of propriety. When God speaks, we 
would naturally suppose that all men would be 
silent and obedient. But not so. The Old 
Serpent is not the only one who has arrogantly 
and blasphemously said, "You shall not surely 
die." Vain man has always been disposed to 
tamper with the decrees of Omnipotence ; and 



210 THE GREAT COMMISSION. 

to change the laws and ordinances of Heaven to 
suit his own convenience. Indeed, so very 
common is this error, that there is reason to 
doubt whether there is now on earth a religious 
society that is not more or less guilty of it. 
And who can estimate the consequences of 
such presumption on the part of man ! How 
many millions are to-day in Tartarus, who 
might be in Paradise, had the followers of 
Christ but faithfully observed all the instruc- 
tions which the Apostles have left for us on 
record ! 

3. That the only practicable way of restor- 
ing peace, unity, and harmony to the Church 
of Christ, is to renounce all human authority 
in matters of religion, and to make "the 
Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the 
Bible" our constant rule of faith and practice. 
I would not willingly discourage any effort that 
good and pious men are now making for the 
peace and prosperity of Zion. It augurs well 
to see any who love the Lord Jesus Christ, 
praying earnestly and laboring constantly in 
any way for the unity and harmony of God's 
people. Some good will, no doubt, come out 



TEACHING THEM, ETC. 211 

of all such well-meant efforts. But surely it is 
altogether folly to suppose that Christians can 
ever be brought to unite on any human basis. 
It will require the sanction and influence of 
ALMIGHTY AUTHOEITT to collect to- 
gether and to unite in one body the several 
members of the household of faith that are 
scattered abroad. And hence what is now 
needed, in order to the unity and cooperation 
of God's people, is — 

(1.) A practical recognition of the supreme 
authority of Christ, as our Sovereign King and 
Head. 

(2.) A practical recognition of the authority 
of the Apostles, and also of all that they have 
left on record for our instruction and govern- 
ment. 

(3.) A practical rejection of all human au- 
thority in matters of religion ; and a hearty re- 
ception of the Word of God as our only rule of 
faith and practice. 

Let this be done in the spirit of Christian 
love, and in the exercise of that " wisdom which 
is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to 
be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, 



212 THE GREAT COMMISSION 

without partiality, and without hypocrisy;" 
and then, soon, all else will be done. For then 
" the mountain of the Lord's house will be es- 
tablished in the top of the mountains, and be 
exalted above the hills; and all nations will 
flow unto it. 55 



THE END. 



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